Moscow, December 25, 1991: The Last Day of the Soviet Union

蘇聯解體前夕，克里姆林宮內所發生的事件，有如驚悚劇一般。戈巴契夫如何被葉爾欽鬥垮，因而結束了蘇聯的生命，本書精彩呈現兩人鬥爭的內幕。兩個不對盤且對未來有不同想法的男人，彼此鬥爭的結果，導致蘇聯的解體。戈巴契夫是個老練世故、舉止有禮的改革者，意圖保有蘇聯並使之現代化；而葉爾欽卻是個大老粗，酒喝的很兇的”推土機”，他希望摧毀整個蘇維埃聯盟，創造資本主義的俄羅斯。1991年8月19到21日，由蘇聯強硬派所發動的政變雖然以失敗收場，卻撼動了戈巴契夫的政權，同時也是葉爾欽的勝利。四個月之後，在陰謀論與兩面交易下，蘇聯政府垮台了，葉爾欽成功地將戈巴契夫趕出克里姆林宮，進而成為俄羅斯的統治者。作者Conor O’Clery將蘇聯垮掉的那一天寫成一部如懸疑驚悚小說般的獨特作品。內部的權力鬥爭、變換立場的盟友與背叛、帶著核彈密碼手提箱的三個神祕上校、操弄未來的手法，都值得成為約翰．勒卡雷小說的材料。在克里姆林宮的屋簷下，上演的一齣黑暗劇碼，就是冷戰的最後一幕。The implosion of the Soviet Union was the culmination of a gripping game played out between two men who intensely disliked each other and had different concepts for the future. Mikhail Gorbachev, a sophisticated and urbane reformer, sought to modernize and preserve the USSR; Boris Yeltsin, a coarse and a hard drinking “bulldozer,” wished to destroy the union and create a capitalist Russia. The defeat of the August 1991 coup attempt, carried out by hardline communists, shook Gorbachev's authority and was a triumph for Yeltsin. But it took four months of intrigue and double-dealing before the Soviet Union collapsed and the day arrived when Yeltsin could hustle Gorbachev out of the Kremlin, and move in as ruler of Russia.Conor O'Clery has written a unique and truly suspenseful thriller of the day the Soviet Union died. The internal power plays, the shifting alliances, the betrayals, the mysterious three colonels carrying the briefcase with the nuclear codes, and the jockeying to exploit the future are worthy of John Le Carré or Alan Furst. The Cold War's last act was a magnificent dark drama played out in the shadows of the Kremlin.