Published in 1951 and with a title such as [I Killed Stalin] I was not expecting a work of great literature which is certainly did not prove to be. It is pulp fiction, which was also an alarming anti-communist rant. I suppose I should not have been so surprised at this considering the year of publication and the start of the cold war, but I have read quite a few books from that year, but nothing quite like this.

It gains an entry into the encyclopaedia of science fiction on the grounds that it is an alternative history novel. The action takes place in the years 1956/8 and precipitates the third world war. Alexis Bodine a marine with a history of working under cover during the second world war is hired by an agency of the F.B.I (Bureau-X) to launch an assassination attempt on Joe Stalin. It is written in the hard boiled style of crime novels of that era and dances lightly over some factual details and plenty of plot holes. Alexis is a communist killing machine, the more the better for the safety of the world, but also thinks nothing of killing American compatriots who get in his way. There is a love interest even more ludicrous than the rest of this thriller/espionage story that barrels along until the ultimate assassination: I am not giving anything away because of the title of the book.

At very opportunity the author is disparaging about Russia and communism and I do mean at every opportunity, perhaps every couple of pages. It is much worse than the kind of rhetoric you might find in comic books of that era. The book is aimed at a young adult readership, the same readers who would also buy science fiction and it was published at the height of the Senator Joe McCarthy's red scare programme and so it is a reflection of it's times, however with all this taken into consideration it still feels over the top when reading today. I was pleased to get this one out of the way and so 2 stars. ( )

Imaginary memoir of a secret agent who supposedly killed Stalin in 1958, leading to a shooting war between the Us and USSR.