A Cold War cloak and dagger thriller, Trotsky's Run, by Richard Hoyt, starts off well. We're quickly introduced to Kim Philby, notorious 1950's British agent turned Russian defector; Leon Trotsky, one-time Russian revolutionary, assassinated in Mexico in 1940, but who seems to live again; Paul Burlane, CIA agent; Derek Townes, charismatic politician who seems a shoo-in to become the next President, and his wife Susan.

It seems Philby wants the CIA to help him escape from the Russians; in return he'll give the CIA secret information about one of the candidates in the upcoming Presidential election. Seems like a fair trade.

Paul Burlane and a senior CIA analyst, Ara Schott, are dispatched to Turkey's Black Sea coast, hook up with a mercenary smuggler, and set off to retrieve Philby from the Russians at Yalta. So far, so good - there're a lot of possibilities, and Hoyt keeps the reader turning pages.

At this point, the reader starts to wonder if Hoyt figured he'd already typed enough to earn his advance, or maybe just got bored. We're plunged from a pretty solid little spy thriller, into something more like "Man from U.N.C.L.E". We're treated to plenty of gratuitous sex (interesting, but it usually has little to do with the plot) and a quick wrap-up involving... well, it was disappointing to me.

If you're looking for a quick read, and aren't a Deighton or Le Carre' fan, you might like it. ( )