“Are you able to hear me in the front, Mr Burns?’ demanded Olga Fiodorovna, apparently speaking to Bernard.

He ground his teeth; having done his homework before he arrived he was irritated by the history lesson. ‘What does that say?’ he asked, pointing at a row of black letters, six feet high, erected on the roof of a nearby building.

‘Labour is glorious,’ translated Olga Fiodorovna.

‘Oh, a hospital,’ said Bernard, and wondered if he was brave enough to light a cigarette.
Olga Fiodorovna told him that in this instance, labour meant work. In her country such slogans were an incentive to the workers. It spurred them on.

‘In my country,’ said Bernard thoughtfully, ‘a slogan like that would be an incentive to violence.”

Like others, I just didn't understand it, and I wouldn't recommended it, but there were quite a few laughs nonetheless. ( )

I did not like this book, but I like the book it almost was. There's a vague sense of a great spy thriller that unfolds in a shocking and surprising way. But then, instead of unfolding, it ended. It's like Bainbridge couldn't pull off the plot details and so tried to shroud it in mystery. Disappointing but not awful. Just a strange incomplete feeling. ( )