The Charm School
Spectacular Praise for
THE
C
HARM
S
CHOOL
C
HARM
S
CHOOL
“HIGHEST MARKS GO TO
THE CHARM SCHOOL,
WHICH JUST MIGHT BE THE THRILLER OF THE YEAR. It is relentlessly suspenseful, generating excitement on every page and presenting an honest, unflinching portrait of the Soviet Union and its people.
The Charm School
makes the grade.”
THE CHARM SCHOOL,
WHICH JUST MIGHT BE THE THRILLER OF THE YEAR. It is relentlessly suspenseful, generating excitement on every page and presenting an honest, unflinching portrait of the Soviet Union and its people.
The Charm School
makes the grade.”
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“A HARROWING JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF TOTALITARIAN DARKNESS . . . a surreal mix of heartland illusion and heartless reality. . . . The result is a chilling, compelling, disquieting and ultimately devastating tale of police state savagery and superpower treachery.”
—Washington Post Book World
“AN EXCITING, WELL-WRITTEN STORY WITH A LOT MORE ACTION THAN SPY-NOVEL FANS ARE ACCUSTOMED TO . . . a classic good guys-vs.-bad guys confrontation, a slam-bang ending. . . . This story gets high marks in suspense, action, and overall readability.”
—San Diego Tribune
“A ROUSING ESPIONAGE ADVENTURE.”
—Dallas Morning News
“SO RIVETING THAT HOLLYWOOD PRODUCERS WILL BE BRAWLING FOR THE MOVIE RIGHTS. No one will stop reading or even pause for the last 100 pages.”
—Boston Herald
“
THE CHARM SCHOOL
GRABS HOLD OF YOU, DRAGS YOU OFF TO THE SCARIEST RUSSIA IMAGINABLE . . . and doesn’t let you out until the last page.”
THE CHARM SCHOOL
GRABS HOLD OF YOU, DRAGS YOU OFF TO THE SCARIEST RUSSIA IMAGINABLE . . . and doesn’t let you out until the last page.”
—James Kirkwood, author of
Good Times/Bad Times
and
Some Kind of Hero
Good Times/Bad Times
and
Some Kind of Hero
“A FIRST-CLASS THRILLER . . . mixes the wham-bam action of the
Firefox
novels with
Gorky Park’
s gritty insight into Soviet life.”
Firefox
novels with
Gorky Park’
s gritty insight into Soviet life.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“A TOP-RATE THRILLER WITH A WHITE-KNUCKLE ENDING. A must read for anyone interested in the Soviet mind-set.”
—Dow Jones News/Retrieval
“HIGHLY ENGAGING SUPER-SUSPENSE.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“STUNNING . . . FASCINATING . . . DeMille has written a story that engages both the mind and the emotions, and done so with a style that makes it a pleasure to read.”
—West Coast Review of Books
“AN ABSORBING NOVEL, ONE THAT NO READER WILL SOON FORGET. It looks deeply into East-West relations, and, in the end, what it teaches us about ourselves and Soviet citizens is disquieting and surprising.”
—DeLand Sun News
(FL)
(FL)
THE
C
HARM
S
CHOOL
C
HARM
S
CHOOL
Books by Nelson DeMille
By the Rivers of Babylon
Cathedral
The Talbot Odyssey
Word of Honor
The Charm School
The Gold Coast
The General’s Daughter
Spencerville
Plum Island
The Lion’s Game
a cognizant original v5 release november 24 2010
With Thomas Block
Mayday
THE CHARM SCHOOL
. Copyright © 1988, 1999 by Nelson DeMille. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
. Copyright © 1988, 1999 by Nelson DeMille. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
For information address Warner Books, Hachette Book Group, 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017.
A Time Warner CompanyThe “Warner Books” name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-7595-2261-9
A hardcover edition of this book was published in 1988 by Warner Books.
First eBook Edition: April 2001
Visit our Web site at
www.HachetteBookGroup.com
www.HachetteBookGroup.com
CONTENTS
To the memory of
Joanna Sindel
Joanna Sindel
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to thank my half-blooded and full-blooded Russian friends, Nicholas Ellison, Nanscy Neiman-Legette, Nicholai Popoff, and Svetlana, my spiritual guides through the labyrinth of the Russian soul. And thanks, too, to Bob Whiting, who taught me to swear in Russian. And special gratitude to Ginny Witte for her devotion to this work and this writer.
Other books
The Summer We All Ran Away by Cassandra Parkin
Bitter Finish by Linda Barnes
Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens Lost Stars by Claudia Gray, Phil Noto
Laying the Ghost by Judy Astley
Much More Than a Mistress by Michelle Celmer
Servants of the Storm by Delilah S. Dawson
Unexpected Magic by Diana Wynne Jones
Aces by Alanson, Craig
Snare of Serpents by Victoria Holt