Nelson Demille is an author who I can feel confident in when I am reading one of his books. He wrote probably one of my most favorite books, “The Gold Coast,” and now after reading “The Charm School,” I’m fairly certain it wasn’t a fluke. “The Charm School” was recommended to me highly, almost to a fault, by Barbie and her mom, so I came into it with some seriously high expectations. Unfortunately, like a good movie that is ruined by too much hype, it didn’t live up to it, but was extremely entertaining. I flew through the book in under a week, and for a person who normally takes a good month to finish a book, it proves that it is definitely a page turner.rnrnOK…now is the time to stop reading if you are going to read the book.

The book is set back in the Cold War era and is based in and around the U.S. embassy in Moscow. It is about a school that the Russians have set up with captured American POWs from the Vietnam War who are used to train Russian KGB men and women to think, act, talk, walk, and do everything American. The reason being that after they have graduated from this school, they KGB students can then be sent to America disguised as Americans, and eventually infiltrate everything and every occupation that is American. If you think about it, this is a great concept and is kind of scary to think that your next door neighbour John Smith, who says he is from Des Moines, Iowa and acts just like any other American, is actually a Russian born KGB spy. The ramifications of such a school that is successful is unbelievable. The entire book revolves around this school and how the embassy is going to shut it down or bring it to light, so if you have read this, I haven’t given away too much. Either way, if you like action based books and page turners, this is right up your alley. Enjoy.