A page-turner from beginning to end. Some details remind the reader of the publishing year of the book (1981), e.g. because mobile phones were not an everyday item back then, and therefore the characters have to go search for the next public phone. To me, this didn't take away anything from the suspense and readability.

The story had me intrigued from the first page. Throughout the whole book, there's always just the right amount of open questions or tension to make you want to read on. In addition, I like Littell's style, so it was easy to get into a nice reading flow. If the story were published today, it would be written differently, not only to account for the technical developments, but probably also because we're more used to high speed and highly clever spies. But I liked it just the way it is: It seemed more real and believable this way.