Such a beautiful book! I kind of wanted to make it last, but ended up practically inhaling it. There were a few points where the pacing meandered, but overall, I was engrossed through out. Daniel and Gennady both are awesome characters, each in his own way, and they have the best type of enemies-to-lovers dynamics: the one where the characters have nothing against each other and could work quite well together, actually. Except they belong to big conflicting factions—the USA and the USSR, in this case—and those factions shape and bind them in too many ways to count. Their starting situation where they’re thrown together with the explicit purpose of harming each other by getting close, and they end up genuinely liking each other, but expressing it would cause harm, so they need to find a very specific balance… Like, damn, it’s chef’s kiss, both the concept and the execution. And then there were all the micro tropes skillfully thrown in? Like Only One Bed, right on time? I so loved how that one was done.

The book reads almost like a dulogy under a single cover, with the first half being the tightest with the actively developing spycraft/mystery plot, whereas the second half is more like… a very separate aftermath, a second chance of sorts. I liked each of them for different reasons. The first one had all the above-described goodness, while the second was more contemplative, with a bunch of really poignant moments. I actually really liked Elizabeth, Daniel’s wife, and her willingness to understand and accommodate her husband’s situation, as long as he extended her the same courtesy. I always love seeing female characters like her in m/m: well-rounded, neither evilly standing in the way of great love or being made these perfect angels who would sacrifice their own happiness for their loved one’s gay happy ending, with her own reasons and choices.

There was also some really great historical context and interesting remarks about politics all through the book. And fun road trip moments. And great food descriptions. And honestly, I just really, really loved all of it. I almost wish I didn’t binge it—then I would still be experiencing the pleasure of reading it!