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Nelson DeMille
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The Charm School Hardcover – April 1, 1988

by Nelson DeMille (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 6,809 ratings
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"True master" and #1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille presents a chilling, relentlessly suspenseful story of Cold War espionage perfect for fans of the hit FX show The Americans (Dan Brown).



#1 New York Times bestselling author, Nelson DeMille, delivers an explosive thriller of international intrigue and high-voltage political tension set in contemporary Russia.On a dark road deep inside Russia, a young American tourist picks up a most unusual passenger a U.S. POW on the run with an incredible secret to reveal to an unsuspecting world. The secret concerns "The Charm School," a vast and astounding KGB conspiracy that stands poised against the very heartland of America. Arrayed against this renegade power of the Soviet state are three Americans: an Air Force officer, who will fly one last covert mission into the center of a mad experiment; an embassy liaison, who will have her hopes for a saner superpower balance brutally tested; and the chief of the CIA's Moscow station, who will find his intricate dance of destiny and death reaching its devastating conclusion.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    533 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Warner Books
  4. Publication date
    April 1, 1988
  5. Dimensions
    6.3 x 1.7 x 9.1 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0446513059
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0446513050
  8. See all details
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  1. “Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”
    Highlighted by 240 Kindle readers
  2. Russia was a second-rate nation, but they had first-rate weapons and a world-class secret police.
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  3. “The least free people in a free society are people like us who have a sworn duty to defend the constitution.”
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This highly charged espionage thriller gets off to a stunning start. On the road from Smolensk to Moscow, an American tourist, Gregory Fisher, is confronted by a man on the run: an Air Force major who was shot down over appears from his hotel and soon turns up dead, the victim of a suspicious car crash. Intelligence officer Sam Hollis, press attache Lisa Rhodes and CIA bureau chief Seth Alevy must discover for themselves what is going on at the Charm School. They must also decide whether public revelation of a horrifying KGB operation during the new era of glasnost might not damage American/Soviet relations. In this exciting, polemic novel, DeMille (Word of Honor) limns an authentic portrait of Russian society. He conveys the claustrophobic life of American Embassy officials impossibly restricted in movement, and he creates spirited American agents who dodge and spar wittily with coarse KGB men. Once DeMille brings readers into the Charm School itself, however, he cannot sustain the magic that has propelled the narrative for two-thirds of its generous length. At this point, the plot becomes predictable, and the finale differs little from standard adventure escapes, with a cruel resolution to boot. Still, it's riveting reading most of the way. 100,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The sustained action of this chilling vision of modern Russia starts with a young American tourist phoning the U.S. embassy in Moscow to report an unusual encounter with a U.S. Air Force major in the forest near Borodino. The tourist then vanishes and the officer is identified as a Vietnam MIA. Attaches Sam Hollis and Lisa Rhodes eventually uncover a spy school graduating several hundred "Americans" each year and staffed by an unwilling faculty made up of American servicemen missing from Vietnam. The blockbuster ends after a maverick CIA agent pulls off a hair-raising escape to the West, carrying proof of the camp's existence. John North, L.R.C., Ryerson Polytechnical Inst., Toronto
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Warner Books (April 1, 1988)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 533 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0446513059
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0446513050
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.55 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.3 x 1.7 x 9.1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 6,809 ratings

About the author

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Nelson DeMille

Nelson DeMille

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Nelson Richard DeMille was born in New York City on August 23, 1943 to Huron and Antonia (Panzera) DeMille, then moved with his parents to Long Island. He graduated from Elmont Memorial High School, where he played football and ran track.

DeMille spent three years at Hofstra University, then joined the Army where he attended Officer Candidate School and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the United States Army (1966-69). He saw action in Vietnam as an infantry platoon leader with the First Cavalry Division and was decorated with the Air Medal, Bronze Star, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.

After his discharge, DeMille returned to Hofstra University where he received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History. He has three children, Lauren, Alexander, and James, and resides on Long Island.

DeMille's first major novel was By the Rivers of Babylon, published in 1978, and is still in print as are all his succeeding novels. He is a member of American Mensa, The Authors Guild, and is past president of the Mystery Writers of America. He is also a member of International Thriller Writers and was chosen as ThrillerMaster of the Year 2015. He holds three honorary doctorates: Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University, Doctor of Literature from Long Island University, and Doctor of Humane Letters from Dowling College.

Nelson DeMille is the author of: By the Rivers of Babylon, Cathedral, The Talbot Odyssey, Word of Honor, The Charm School, The Gold Coast, The General's Daughter, Spencerville, Plum Island, The Lion's Game, Up Country, Night Fall, Wild Fire, The Gate House, The Lion, The Panther, The Quest, Radiant Angel, The Cuban Affair and The Deserter. He also co-authored Mayday with Thomas Block and has contributed short stories to anthologies, and book reviews and articles to magazines and newspapers.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
6,809 global ratings
Used Book
3 Stars
Used Book
Dust cover was dog-eared and water stained on the pages near the back of the book.Still not a bad deal for the money, I just expected the book to be in a little better shape.Great story and well written.
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Top reviews from the United States

Margie L.
5.0 out of 5 stars a great story well written
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2024
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Liked the researcher and factual background of an unknown world-power place-in-time. Content on political considerations of diplomatic intricacies was insightful and beneficial. Another DeMille classic.
2 people found this helpful
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Henry J Adolfi
5.0 out of 5 stars Action packed with lots of twists
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2023
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Enjoyable book with lots of references to “old time attitudes and ideas” about the Soviet Union vs the USA in the Cold War era. Politics vs Humanity on full display.
One person found this helpful
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Briochegal
4.0 out of 5 stars Exciting and fast paced, iffy romance
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2013
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I can't add much to what many other reviewers have said, but I was just a little disappointed in this thriller. I didn't give it 5 stars for two reasons: the disappointing ending, and the one dimensional character of Lisa. I didn't take off stars for this but as an aspiring novelist I found it odd that there were limited physical descriptions of the characters, especially Seth, Tom and Lisa. I thought Lisa was a simpering idiot and Tom's falling in love with her was unrealistic, explained only by the dearth of available single women. I also found that the rescue phase took too long. (I found the same thing in Babylon, so maybe it's me).
The insights into Soviet ruled Russia and the threats that even those with diplomatic immunity lived under are appalling. DeMille does a great job of bringing that world to life. A very good read - Exciting, especially the beginning chapters,well written, a couple of cardboardy characters and a less than satisfying ending.
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Charles Scott
5.0 out of 5 stars Show the Love
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2015
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Sylvester walks nonchalantly into the apartment, a stack of today's mail in his hand. There is an advertising flyer from the florist. "Say it with flowers." He enters the dining room. Roses on the table. Moving quickly and quietly into the living room, he views a plain wicker basket of plants on top of the tv cabinet, overflowing with an abundance of intensely purple petals. Violets on television.
He reflects on the video game he saw being played by a youth at the corner convenience store. Measurable levels of health, strength, weapons, and funds were prominently displayed to the side of the on-screen virtual-reality activity. You must maintain a high level of energy to continue the battle against a tough, well-armed, skilled, and resourceful opponent. Otherwise game over.
He sits on a sofa cushion, opens a long envelope, and begins to read the review of a recently cancelled television series, modernized and loosely adapted from the theme from Nelson DeMille's 1989 novel, The Charm School.
Reality check: You expect a middle-aged, overweight, out-of-shape desk-jockey technocrat, purported to be a mid-level Air Force manager and ex-Jet Fighter Pilot, assigned to an embasy post in the USSR. Someone who sort of reminds you of another DeMille character, the joke-cracking "legal eagle" wise guy--John "Rambo He's Not" Sutter, only all grown up and matured now.
What you get instead is the character of Sam "Haul Ass" Hollis, a walking-talking Hardened-Man Dynamo of excess energy and instability, who appears to be on a daily-regimen combination of steroids and "Viagra," yet his is a healthy diet of pure natural foods, rich in body-building proteins, vital nutrients, and source vitamins. Must be the fresh air and exercise.
He goes out to explore Moscow only to discover the food is terrible, the service is worse than intolerable, and he can't seem to get decent results in any of his search efforts. As a matter of taste, there's no Cordon Bleau Cooking School influence to be found anywhere; refinement, no Butler academy graduates in the vicinity to lend a helping hand in a pinch; or, for purposes of on-going professional development, ready access to a spare F-15 in reasonably close proximity is simply not there. To add insult to injury, he is badly mistreated by some of the local inhabitants. His rivals bully and intimidate him. Apparently, he doesn't understand the country, or it's long history of traditions and local customs. He certainly does not fully comprehend the mentality and brutality of his KGB counterparts.
Be forewarned: the plot of the novel may seem far-fetched, preposterous, even, bizarre at times, "nyet"--impossible. Hollis has the primary mission of locating missing U.S. Air Force pilots from the conflict in Viet Nam, who may have been re-located to Russia, for some inexplicable reason. He asks around for possible leads and follows up on some of the information he receives.
His boss, the embasy station chief, Seth "All Systems Go" Alevy encourages Hollis in his duties, provides guidance, and tasks his ex-girlfriend with assisting him. The boss does reveal his conflicted "inner-child" and war-mongering tendencies in the process. For example, he includes weapons of mass descruction in his contingency plans--a worse case scenario, one might suppose. He seeks to make a profit on his business ventures in Moscow, but this is not a high priority. In contrast, he is generous to a fault and is a prolific giver of gifts.
Hollis's new girlfriend, then, Lisa "Tsarina" Rhodes is allegedly young, beautiful, scholarly, and sexy. You wonder if she and Hollis didn't fall in love, she might have been a "sleeper," on her way to the pinnacle of the personnel charts within the diplomatic corps. The real trouble begins when Hollis invites Lisa along on one of his fact-finding missions into the vastly remote countryside and isolated villages some distance away from the center of Moscow. Here, you are cautiously reminded, that there are some places in the world where you just wouldn't want to go wandering around without at least two or three Army Divisions, plus some extra Marines, and dedicated air support.
I would not want to hazard a wild guess or contemplate any of the more serious implications of Hollis's and Alevy's decision-making process and their ultimately chosen courses of action in a real-world scenario. One can only be thankful and feel humbled that the novel is merely an extension of some kind-hearted, sentimental narrator's hyper-active imagination running rampant, but you can't help but wonder from where the meglomaniac personality and the persecution-complex induced tendencies for revenge and supreme domination springs forth. As if they had gone on some incredible road trip or a mind-blowing ego trip, but really wanted to go on the world's scariest roller coaster ride. You might also be curious what they do to relax, chill out, and calm down afterwards. What would they do for an encore? Another covert military operation?
Oddly enough, Sam, Lisa, and Seth do sort of remind me of the three principal characters in "Star Wars," if you really want to stretch the point of an "evil empire" way out there into the farthest reaches of the galaxy. They get to drive around town and drag main in a cool transport vehicle.
All in all a considerable amount of team research and "boots on the ground" detail went into producing every single chapter of this novel and packing it with interesting facts and information about the host nation. The reader should bear in mind, however, that the world has changed drastically since the time when the novel was first published. Currently, there are so many extremely dangerous, extraneous trouble-makers in the world stirring the pot who originate in several other high profile countries around the globe. Nonetheless, the U.S. and Russia remain steadfast and ideologically opposed. They both strive to expand their influence throughout the rest of the world. A stalemate as far as most are concerned.
11 people found this helpful
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webcat
5.0 out of 5 stars Still a great story 30 years later
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2023
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I first read this book about 30 years ago and it made me a lifelong fan of Nelson DeMille. I recently reread it and it is just as good as I remembered. It's a spy-versus-spy story in an oppressive Cold War Russia setting. The storyline alternates between surprising, suspenseful, and satisfying. The characters are typical DeMille, smart with a healthy side of smartass. Although the cold war has been over for many years, this is still an excellent read, and perfectly captures the sentiments and fears of the time. Highly recommended.
6 people found this helpful
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HeyJudy
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing and outstanding
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2006
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Nelson DeMille may be my favorite author. I thought that I had read all of his books but, obviously, somehow I missed THE CHARM SCHOOL, first published in the 1980s.

Like all of his thrillers, THE CHARM SCHOOL, too, is the type of page turner that a reader cannot put down; indeed, it is difficult not to clear one's calendar totally in order to keep reading until the conclusion.

No one--and I mean no one--crafts a better plot, or tells a tale more forcefully, than does DeMille.

As always with a DeMille work, the story is so fact-laden that the reader comes out the richer for having been exposed to his detailed and accurate research.

Forget that THE CHARM SCHOOL is set in the Former Soviet Union just before it fell. It remains one of the best spy stories ever...and none of us can be sure that spying does not continue, right to the present, on some level; in fact, it is unlikely that the USA and the FSU countries (or, at least, modern Russia) are not spying on each other still, in some abbreviated fashion.

Using a protagonist who is a military officer trained in espionage and assigned to the United States' Moscow embassy, the plot examines whether there could have been a deeply covered-up training camp for Russian spies near Minsk (today, the capital of modern, FSU Belarus.) In this novel, just such an operation, sarcastically known as "the charm school," supposedly was designed as an American small town to prepare its students for deep cover insertion into the USA. Could this have happened? Could the USA yet be housing some of these same implants?

Typical of DeMille, his detail here is so thorough, and so plausible, that one cannot wonder whether he put in his own days as a spy or as a staff member of the American Embassy in Moscow.

Typical DeMille: A wonderful read and an exciting, unforgettable story!
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT READ
Reviewed in Canada on March 18, 2023
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A fantastic plot set in Vold War Russia. Stretches the imagination , but a page turner, young want t put it down!
Exciting action, it’s. Of tension.,
Exciting Maddison packed conclusion.
Typical great writing from DeMille
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willread
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 27, 2022
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This was an excellent book that kept my attention from beginning to end with a story that was quite complex and had many facets, each adding to the drama as it unfolded. There were some excellent well developed characters throughout the tale, each contributing to the plot by different degrees, to my mind, adding to it and increasing the tension that I always felt was present in this book. The main two characters were very likeable and this contributed to my enjoyment along with a fair helping of romance, humour, action and drama which kept things moving along to a noteworthy conclusion. Recommended.
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Gary Trembath
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding read
Reviewed in Australia on November 12, 2023
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Exciting and very well written. Extremely thought provoking and quite relevant to the period in which this novel is based. DeMille is an outstanding author.
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Mrs H
5.0 out of 5 stars Continuous intrigue
Reviewed in France on June 4, 2017
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If you enjoy spy novels, then you will enjoy this. Numerous twists that make you want to keep reading. Characters are believable with human flaws
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars La classe non é acqua.
Reviewed in Italy on October 22, 2016
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Ogni pagina un palpito, un vero capolavoro!
In lingua originale il piacere diviene ancora piú gustoso. Nelson Demille? Un maestro.
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