Trading Secrets

Being a secret agent has always seemed so thrilling and fun to me, and this story proves that it would be just as exciting. Trading Secrets is a very exciting spy thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat when you read it. You are dying to know what is going to happen next. This is a book that is allegedly based on true events, which makes it that much more exciting. It makes this book so much more thrilling knowing that these events could be partially real. You learn a lot about this type of lifestyle and the different issues and excitement that come along with it. It is a good read and easy to get through since it keeps your attention for the most part.

What is the book about? This is a political suspense novel that follows along an actual event. You will follow Christian Hardaway, Geogie Mikhailovich Romonov and Julien Hardaway. Reading this book you will jump all around certain time periods ranging from the 1920's to the 1990's. Christian is an exporter of military and security resources who is being framed for a variety of crimes which all just seems like conspiracy. Julien is Christian's father and they are quite similar in personality. What did I think of the book? I found this book to be a little difficult to read. I kept having to go back to the beginning of chapters to understand when and where the chapter takes place. After researching a little of the "actual even" I found that this book is more "based" on actual events then an exact story. After reading the author's website I was able to understand his direction but I think it would make more sense after I read the book a second time. I would have liked to read this book just once and finish it but I found it took much longer to read because I was constantly re-reading parts. I enjoyed the suspense but I don't think this was a book for me.

As far as spy/thriller fiction goes, this was decent. Admitedly I'm not a huge fan of the genre, but I can appreciate it once in a while. The writing is very movie-like and it's enjoyable to read.The narration can get jumpy. It moves from one character to another in a way that is often confusing or with seemingly little rhyme or reason. There are a fair amount of tangents to explain various political organization and related people, which is helpful if you have no knowledge of the background events, as some things that happen in this book are based on real events. A full gamut of twists and turns are explored in this book. The characterization is also not without problems. For some reason Christian's wife, Evvy, just hates his guts and seems to go out of her way to ruin his life, even though it's repeatedly stated that she cares to remain well-off and in high social standing. Not sure how ruining his life fits in with that. Also, both Christian and Evvy have lovers on the side. Almost immediately I noticed that Evvy was portrayed much worse, and Christian having a mistress is apparently okay. Probably for this reason, I enjoyed Mishka (another major character) more than I did Christian.

Trading Secrets, by Tadeusz R. Sas, is a fictional story that is based on actual events. It is a political thriller/suspense novel with a bit of espionage on the side. The story line fallows 3 major characters; Christian Hardaway who is a military and security exporter being framed, Julien Hardaway who is Christian's father and dies of a mysterious death, and Georgie Mikhailovich Romonov, who is the son of Czar Nicholas II's brother. The story goes back and forth following these characters throughout the events of this historical era. The story itself jumps around from the 1920's to the 1990's, so you really have to pay attention to not get lost. I caught myself having to go back and reread chapters due to getting confused over the time periods that were being covered. Other than that the book is very interesting. It really grabs you from the beginning and holds your attention all the way to the end. I definitely recommend this spy thriller to anyone who enjoys the genre.

Trading Secrets is ‘based-on-real-life’ type novel written by Tadeusz R. Sas. Mr. Sas, was born in the United Kingdom in 1941 and participated in many of the events that are described in this book. Though exactly how much of this book is ‘based on Actual event’ is the question one has to get for himself, as it also has some fictional plot enhancements and characters. Whom do you trust? Nobody. Whom do you use? Everybody, and this is the core value of this book.., that in the spy business when you are out to sell (or in other words trade) secrets you can’t trust anyone and you have to use everyone to get what you want. The story has enough mystery to keep reading this book interesting, and there are enough twists and turns too. with almost 300 pages, this book is a very long read, specially when one has to switch back n forth to get in the main stream of story. The story may appeal to those, who love James bond movies of Golden age... but be advised, about nothing in particular except, some parts of writing may come as downright offensive. On concluding notes i would say that, this book certainly was not my cup of tea. Although i liked the plot as whole but the execution and (specially) the characterisation was not upto my expectation. I’ll give this story 3 of 5 stars.

This is an interesting spy thriller that claims to be “based on actual events with names fictionalized except for those of major figures” such as Hugh Gaitskell, Nikita Khrushchev, etc. The pro-US Gaitskell was the preferred Labor leader until his untimely death (assassination by the KGB?) and Khrushchev was the beginning of the end of the Soviet phase of Authoritarian rule in Russia. It is not clear if the author intends to include, among those public figures, the Emir of Kuwait who is said in this novel to have a custom of marrying a virgin every week or the putative “last heir” to the Romanov throne who is drawn as a KGB agent trying to advance his cause while surviving the new (Soviet) Russia. At the heart of the dizzying switchbacks in time are the activities of a trading company set-up with the encouragement of a few members of the British ruling elite who are dismayed by the fall of the Conservative government due to scandals generated by sexual antics and intelligence defections to the Soviet Union. There were indeed many who thought there was secret service (and American) involvement in plots against Wilson who is portrayed in this book as too far to the left for the taste of those members of the British ruling elite. There are also disparaging remarks about the “flaccid British aristocracy with their cricket and reading of Keats” (probably not the worst that could have been said about them). The trading company is set up by an English nobleman whose renunciation of his title is a sub-plot in the book; his activities and those of his son are the stuff of this middling spy thriller. The company prospers as a favored agent for the sale of British arms and technology in exchange for a very private role in intelligence gathering and even the occasional covert action. But the role of the company and the activities of the second chairman of the company are compromised by other forces and other actors. The twists and turns are complicated (no doubt by design) by time-shifts in the narrative until all is resolved. The novel is nonetheless readable. Its odd espousal of two somewhat dated items of international gossip gives it a somewhat antiquarian odor.

Trading Secrets" written by Tadeusz R. Sas is a great book based on events that actually took place. The author explains that there are lot of fictionalized elements in the story and while reading one can see what is reality from fiction. The point of this story can be summed up with following quote: "Being a double agent is not difficult"... From chapter to chapter, the author switches time periods and locations presenting cause effect elements which really make the story interesting and unique. This pulls the author deeper and deeper into the story. On visiting the author's web site one finds how he took inspiration for writing this book. Enjoy the mixing up fiction with historical facts from World War II to Russia's Perestroika, The dangerous spy world and end up wondering if one of the character in the book is still alive and in power! The author has a way from going to chapter to chapter then between time periods in which it keep the reader reading more . The book shows how the series of today's events were really a consequence of what happen in the not long distance past.

I didn’t know what to expect when I picked this book up. A businessman spy, the heir to the Russian throne and governmental secrets abound in this espionage thriller. I don’t think I've ever read a spy novel. I've watched movies on the subject, and I've read mysteries before, but for some reason I've never really been interested in the reading about spies. Trading Secrets has opened my eyes to what this genre can offer. The only thing that makes this book 4 instead of 5 stars is the layout. It was really hard keeping track of what was going on because it would jump around from the 1990s to the 1950s to the 1920s. While you do get a complete understanding of all the major characters lives and their motivations, it was extremely hard to remember what happened in each storyline. I think it could have been cut to only include the Miska storyline as a complement to Christian's, especially since the summary talks about both of them. Even though the main storyline follows Christian, I found myself liking Mishka's story better. Even though he committed atrocious acts, I couldn’t help but see the little boy trying to keep his promise to his mother. Everything he tried to do was to fulfill that task. I don’t agree with what he did but I can see why he would think joining the KGB would help him. One thing that I'm still interested in knowing is how much of this really happened. Obviously Sas isn’t going to know the intimate details of Mishka's escape when he was a child or the conversation he had right before he died. But the question still lingers, what truly happened, and which parts of the story did Sas actually do? **I received this book from the Bookplex**

Trading Secrets is a spy thriller with the curious tagline of &quot;based on actual events&quot; although it is less a 'ripped from the headlines' fictionalization and more an alternative history. Lots of liberties are taken with the details of the events that are real, to the point where one wonders whether the changes are artistic license or just outright laziness. While the various twists and turns Trading Secrets takes are at times interesting, the constant head hopping and time travel is disorienting. There's no reason why every character major and minor needs a few paragraphs to present their side of the story. Often after spending too much time in flashback, I found I could not remember what had been going on in Christian's timeline. There's one scene towards the end that starts out in 1971 and then fast forwards without warning or reason to 1991. I had to reread it to figure out why characters were discussing an event that would happen two decades in the <em>future</em> . That's not to say that Trading Secrets is completely bad. If you manage to keep everybody straight it has enough mystery to keep you reading and the story itself is well-paced with the occasional amusing anecdote worked in. But it's also rather unimaginative and light on characterization. Christian and Julien Hardaway might as well be the same person. At times I found myself accidentally confusing them: they have the same attitudes, the same patterns of behavior, the same vices, exactly the same relationship with most of the characters they share acquaintance. Neither one of them is well developed or especially sympathetic. Sometimes their motives are baffling or contradictory without that contradiction being leveraged to say something interesting For example, Julien hates the separation between aristocrats and common people but notes with confusion when commoners speak to him as an equal and sends his son to boarding school to &quot;make the right friends&quot; for a future as a ruler of England. One could use this hypocrisy to explore the contrast between stated ideals and actual actions (which would be quite fitting given the backdrop of Communism), but that never happens. Instead the disconnect festers, frustrating rather than engaging. But by far the biggest problem I had with this book is how deeply misogynistic it is. I have no doubt in my mind that real life spy games are filled with plenty of macho 'boys will be boys' exploits, no doubt that the attitudes of Trading Secrets is a reflection of what many firmly believe. The problem is not that it is inaccurate, the problem is that it is uninteresting. Women in this book are only heroines when their heads are bowed in complete and total servitude to their men. I wish I could say I was kidding about that &hellip; look how Julien describes his youngest mistress (who he sleeps with when she is fifteen years old): &quot;He'd been searching for the right mistress, one he could control, one who would be pleased with the spoils of the mistress life, not wanting marriage or legitimization. Most of all, one that gave him everything, to his exacting wishes.&quot; It could have been interesting if these elements were used to create a clear anti-hero, but since EVERYONE behaves like this it's little more than an offensive irritant. At best it comes off as poor characterization, at worst it's down right creepy. Conclusion: An okay read for plot and pacing, but held back by haphazard execution and lack of creativity.

I am not really a fan of political thrillers or suspense novels, especially espionage ones. I can name a few that i really like, but then, I do not look for books in this genre. But being an open-minded reader, I was intrigued with the plot of Trading Secrets. First thing that actually attracted me is the name of the author, Tadeusz Sas, which sounded so foreign and cool. Yes, call me shallow but author names in their native languages and with very unique and magical-sounding spellings in appealing to me as a pretty book cover. So without further ado, I got the book and started reading this with high expectations... Which were all met by the way. And even set my expectations beyond what I would expect from a suspense/thriller novel. This is really good. Reading this book is like watching a movie unfolding before your eyes. The author described scenes in great detail and aside from that, I learned a lot about espionage, politics, spies, warfare, technological advancements and other related things throughout the whole narrative. I like learning new stuff and since this is about a triple agent and a clandestine society, it really made me happy to discover such a gem. Plus, I love anything Russian-related and the main character, Mishka, a son of the czar's brother, is one of those characters that you would not forget. This novel really has the makings of a good book. And possibly a movie. The author surely knows what he is writing about and the disclaimer about this novel being based on real events and information with some names changed really adds up to the mystery and excitement. It kinda makes you feel intrigued and wondering if everything is true or just a figment of the author's wild but amazing imagination. Suspense/thrillers should definitely be written in a way that readers would think the book is very credible, believable and also possible.

Book &quot;Trading Secrets&quot; written by Tadeusz R. Sas is one great espionage book based on events that actually took place. In prologue author explains that there are lot of fictionalized elements of the story and while reading one cannot distinguish reality from fiction. I must admit that I haven't read such good espionage book in years. The essence of this story can be summed up with following quote: &quot;Being a double agent is not difficult. It's being a treble or quadruple agent that is hard. - KGB defector&quot;. Through 45 chapters on 299 pages author created multi-generational, complicated and great mystery embraced with dialogs, lies and hedonism. From chapter to chapter author switches time periods and locations presenting cause-effect elements which complete the story. Such storytelling forces reader to keep going on and on. And that is not hard at all. Another quote that will describe the theme which I find very interesting: ... &quot;I would love to do what you do.&quot; &quot;Oh? And what is it I do?&quot; smiled Hollis, exhaling as he spoke. Julian hesitated and replied, &quot;You know, old champ.&quot; &quot;Yes, I certainly know. What I'm asking is what you think you know.&quot; Julian looked around to be certain no one was listening, leaned forward, and said, &quot;Hush-hush work.&quot;

An interesting trip through the 20th Century Espionage field of conflict - a thinly veiled review of who did what to whom and how the British Intelligence Service fought to overcome its penetration, at the highest levels, by the Soviet Union. Historically based with many facts fictionalized to weave a tale of businessmen turned spies and spies turned businessmen.