Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* In the late 1960s, long before the fall of communism, a boy and his mother escape from Leningrad. They can stow away on either of two ships: one headed to England, the other to the U.S. They make their decision by flipping a coin. In this brilliantly conceived novel, Archer follows the lives of Alexander and Elena down both paths; in (mostly) alternating chapters, we see Alex build a financial empire in the U.S., while Sasha—a common Russian diminutive for Alexander—climbs the political ladder in England. Their lives follow generally parallel trajectories; a major event in Alex's life is roughly mirrored in Sasha's, and vice versa. Archer, no stranger to sprawling epics, covers three decades in the life of Alex/Sasha, working his way to a stunning conclusion that packs an emotional wallop. Typical for an Archer novel, the writing and characterizations are superb, and the book features several plot twists that send the story lines off in surprising new directions. There are a couple of moments, late in the novel, that should make readers' jaws drop—moments so unexpected and surreal that they require a second reading, just to make sure we really just read what we think we did. A splendid novel, featuring one of Archer's most elegantly told stories. Copyright 2018 Booklist Reviews.
Library Journal Reviews
In 1968, after his father is assassinated by the KGB, Russian teenager Alexander Karpenko flips a coin to decide whether he and his mother should immigrate (desperately) to London or to New York. Readers get two versions of what might have happened, depending on that flip. Major promotion.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal.Publishers Weekly Reviews
In Archer's clever novel, a