TROIKA by Egleton, Clive

Atheneum, New York, 1984. Hard bound in dj, 6 x 9, US first edition, FINE/FINE CONDITION, 319 PAGES.--------------------------------------------The would-be Russian premier thought he had a useful puppet in his battle for power, until the puppet reached up and cut its strings—and then reached for him—in Clive Egleton's most ingenious thriller ever.In Moscow, the Soviet leader lies dying. Meanwhile, Georgi Kirov, a Russian major exiled to Afghanistan for a less than deferential attitude toward his superiors, finds himself breaking a captured American agent with surprising ease. Even more surprising is the extravagant praise and promotion that follows.-------------------------------------It turns out his bosses have a mission for him. Both the KGB and the Red Army have candidates for the top post, but the army's candidate has one small problem: his son and daughter-in-law have defected to the United States, and it is Kirov's job to persuade them to come back. Or so he is told. In truth, the intrigue goes much deeper, each faction has a secret agenda, and Kirov is a victim-to-be in a power game of enormous ruthlessness.But the bosses haven't taken into account the intelligence of their victim. Once Kirov fmds out what is going on—and how soon he will be expendable—he decides to revise the rules of the game, and this time it is the bosses who may turn out to be expendable—including the new Soviet premier himself.