Aug 13, 2004 01:14 PM
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(Updated Aug 13, 2004 01:14 PM)
The Second Lady follows the standard Irving Wallace novel format-Cold War, Russian spies, political intrigue, blackmail and of course liberal doses of sex. But in many ways its quite interesting like other Wallace novels like The Almighty, The Prize, The 7th Secret etc.
Plot
Billie Bradford is the wife of the President of US, Andrew Bradford, ''The First Lady'' of the US of A. She has a look alike in a Russian actress Vera Vavilova and the KGB decides to take advantage of this. They start an operation code named ''Second Lady'' where Vera is given all the information about the Billie. Right from her gestures and mannerisms, her way of talking, her likes, her hates. She is even made to undergo cosmetic surgery to match Billie's vital stats. During the First Lady's visit to Moscow, Billie is kidnapped and Vera is substituted in her place.
All is not smooth for Vera, and she almost comes close to getting caught. The biggest challenge comes when she is advised by Billie's gynaecologist to resume her normal sex life. How can Vera deceive the President in bed? Vera meanwhile passes all confidential information to the KGB, but she asks to be the First Lady for life. That would mean the murder of the actual First Lady to which the KGB agrees.
But in the meanwhile Billie escapes from captivity helped ironically by Vera's lover Alex Razin, and her mentor also. Would the truth about Vera be known? Can Billie get back to her original life? What happens to Alex? To know this one must read the novel.
High Points
The book primarily revolves around 3 characters the First Lady Billie Bradford, the look alike Vera and her lover Alex Razin. Some of the best parts of the book are as follows:
The description of the training given to Vera to get her acquainted with Billie's life.
The scene where Billie is kidnapped and the switch takes place
The scenes where Vera comes close to getting discovered like her dog not recognizing her, mistaking some 1 else for her old friend.
The part where Vera is advised to have a normal sex life and how the KGB and Vera get over this.
Quite a lot of saucy sex scenes.
The climax is the best part of the novel, where an explosion kills Alex, along with one of the women. Wallace leaves it to the reader to figure out whether the survivor is the real one or not.
The novel shows the Russians as smart, intelligent and cunning, while the Americans are depicted as naive and incompetent.
The President's character is no more than a cipher in this America has all the intelligence resources at it's disposal, yet how could they have not detected a plot to kidnap the First Lady.
Surely they pretty well know that Russia being a hostile country would be up to it's tricks.
Also the way the media, the public and even Billie's close friends are fooled by Vera, seems to indicate that any 3rd rate actress could fool the entire US of A?
Though its just a book, the novel does give a damning indictement of American intelligence, which could be seen in Sept 11.
All in a all, a good racy thriller with enough twists and turns to keep you occupied.
