OK, so I finished this a while back, and despite it appealing to a lot of my interests, I honestly found it pretty meh.
I really enjoyed the realistic military/tactical aspect of it all, as that part is right up my alley, but… I did not care about the characters, the plot seemed hollow, and it seems like some things that could have been explored further were simply ignored.
For example, in the beginning these guys blow up a refinery. There are vague descriptions as to why, but after this it is practically not mentioned again. Whatever movement they were part of apparently disappears, and there are no repercussions for their home oblast.
The only thing this book has going for it, in my opinion, is that military nerds like me enjoy the detailed writing about the different types of hardware involved in the book.
So, since I am by no means a literary connoseur, I’m curious about what others think of this one.
Have also read it, I found most of it quite forgettable. Maybe when it was written ('86) it seemed much more connected to a real world possibility so early readers filled in the gaps with real life happenings / politicians etc. I was reading it in the early 2000’s when you had Hillary Clinton presenting Russia with a “reset” button and it almost seemed like we might be on the same side. Maybe that undermined it a bit?
I also didn’t find its handing of nuclear threat particularly convincing.
I’ve not thought about it for years, but perhaps these happenings in Ukraine have shown the whole dynamic wasn’t (isn’t) as implausible as I thought.
I read it around 1990 and it was an ok thriller, with a somewhat unique play (world war and all) or so I felt back then. Doesn’t really remember anything noteworthy except the russkies would have won if they hadn’t been like unlucky IIRC (some spy stepping out in the street in front of a car, having like the attack plans or something). The people were totally forgettable.
So yeah, a nice read back then but that’s about it.
Yeah, the time period in which it was released definitely plays a part. I just find that anything in the book that isn’t geekery about army/navy to be tacked on. Such as the Iceland plot with that woman whose name I cannot care enough about to remember. “Yes, a book probably needs a subplot like that.”