Marco Polo, If You Can (Blackford Oakes Novel) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "AFTER THE FIRST DAY Blackford Oakes wondered why the court, as everyone persisted in calling it, went on and on, in such tedious detail..." (more)
Key Phrases: Control One, Soviet Union, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Published in 1982 and 1984, respectively, these are two of Buckley's popular Blackie Oakes spy thrillers. They feature the usual U.S./Soviet Cold War cloak-and-dagger action and provide "flawless entertainment" (LJ 3/1/84).
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

William F. Buckley, Jr. editor of National Review, may be remembered by posterity as the novelist who created Blackford Oakes. In this installment, Buckley uses a celebrated incident of 20 years ago to create a fictional adventure with official history.

Oakes has just been cashiered from the Agency, when his boss decides he is the only man for an exceptionally dirty piece of work. Oakes agrees to return, but in short order finds himself standing before a secret Soviet military tribunal which has as its subject his execution for spying. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888952113
• ISBN-13: 978-1888952117
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #853,216 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Cold War Spy Tale, April 30, 2000

By	"a_mom" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

It's 1958 and a drunken Chairmen Khrushchev has just quoted verbatum from the top secret minutes of the National Security Council to President Eisenhower. Thus ensues an operation to find the KGB mole. The search takes our hero, CIA agent Blackford Oakes, to Germany, past the iron curtain into East Berlin.

So, how does Blacky come to find his U-2 experiencing an unrecoverable flameout over the USSR? Will he leave Lubyanka prison alive?

The suspense is wonderfully woven in this tale of suave, hansome and daring Blackford Oakes. I hated to put this one down. The ending is cleaver and unmistakably Buckley. This is a fun read.