- Paperback
- Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd (21 Sep 1981)
- ISBN-10: 0099271109
- ISBN-13: 978-0099271109
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,389,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
TO SAY THE BOOK IS BRILLIANT IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT, THIS IS A MASTERPIECE,,,READ THE BOOK YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I MEAN,,,,
Format:Hardcover
Irving Wallace cannot be faulted for having a vivid imagination. But how it would ever be possible for the Russians (or anyone else currently anti-USA) to realistically substitute the First Lady with their own 'double' does mean that the reader has to suspend belief in a big way. For holiday reading this is a good book and I would have awarded it 3.5 stars. Otherwise, take it as you find it. The characters are not so likeable that you really care whether the substitution is a success or not but, of course, we are dealing with a time frame when the cold war was fully operational and maybe ideas on how devious the Soviets were was a basic tenet for this and similar books of the period.
I did want to finish the book, mainly to see how the denouement came about and in that I wasn't disappointed! I just wonder who did actually survive?!
I did want to finish the book, mainly to see how the denouement came about and in that I wasn't disappointed! I just wonder who did actually survive?!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
11 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A disapointment after reading "The Man"
18 July 1998
Format:Hardcover
Wallace's novel "The Man" would have to be one of the best novels I've ever read. However "The Second Lady" compared as a very poor cousin. A very disapointing read for such an accomplished author. Forgettable and lacking the integrity of "The Man".
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
suspensfull,could it really happen??
15 May 1998
Format:Paperback
Great Book! Easy,rapid reading,hard to put down.Although fiction,it sure makes you wonder--speculate,and the ending? well,thought provoking to say the least.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Preposterous Thriller
17 Aug 2005
Format:Paperback
An utterly preposterous book. The Lady of the title is a virtual clone of the American President's wife - living unfortunately in Russia. The Lady is stumbled upon by the Soviets' spymaster who hits upon a daring idea: swap the two - if temporarily - to give them access to the President's innermost secrets. Specifically, they need to determine whether the Americans have really beefed up the military position of an embattled and US-Backed African nation. As the Russian spy gains access, she soon realizes that it may take more than looks to pass for the president's wife.
So why is this novel so bad? The cardboard characters typical to novels like this are in attendance, but it's the premise that makes this an unlikely read. The idea behind the Russian lady is problematic because it was unnecessarily made as implausibly as possible - instead of working at some secret soviet lab, there just happens to be a Russian woman who looks like the wife of the most powerful man in the free world, and she just happens to catch the eye of the head of the KGB. Just to reassure jaded readers, we're told that the real first lady is an avid skinny-dipper, allowing Russian spy-photographers to verify in pictures what file photos at Reuters will not. (More intelligent readers wonder how the First Lady's predilections survived our ruthless press.) The Soviets get so used to having the plot go there way, that when a problem crops up, they seem to miss the simplest solution (The Russians, despite their dossier on the President's wife, miss an embarrassing detail about the lady's current medical condition; when they learn that there's a problem after having made the switch, they go to desperate lengths to get details, even though they have the First Lady in their power and can have one of their own doctors determine the situation). Most of the Irving Wallace novel's I've read are rife with plot howlers, but the good ones (Like "The Plot") actually work on their implausibility and have enough fun characters that they work. To its credit, "Lady" ends on a smart twist ending, but it's one that seems undeserved by this contrived book.
So why is this novel so bad? The cardboard characters typical to novels like this are in attendance, but it's the premise that makes this an unlikely read. The idea behind the Russian lady is problematic because it was unnecessarily made as implausibly as possible - instead of working at some secret soviet lab, there just happens to be a Russian woman who looks like the wife of the most powerful man in the free world, and she just happens to catch the eye of the head of the KGB. Just to reassure jaded readers, we're told that the real first lady is an avid skinny-dipper, allowing Russian spy-photographers to verify in pictures what file photos at Reuters will not. (More intelligent readers wonder how the First Lady's predilections survived our ruthless press.) The Soviets get so used to having the plot go there way, that when a problem crops up, they seem to miss the simplest solution (The Russians, despite their dossier on the President's wife, miss an embarrassing detail about the lady's current medical condition; when they learn that there's a problem after having made the switch, they go to desperate lengths to get details, even though they have the First Lady in their power and can have one of their own doctors determine the situation). Most of the Irving Wallace novel's I've read are rife with plot howlers, but the good ones (Like "The Plot") actually work on their implausibility and have enough fun characters that they work. To its credit, "Lady" ends on a smart twist ending, but it's one that seems undeserved by this contrived book.
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