The Russians Are Coming

Lily Alex

Review by Molly

When ‘The Russians’ Vera Grach and Gleb Merkulov, Vlad Lapin and his wife Nina and daughter Larisa as well as Marina Alexsandrova arrive, folks in town are a bit unsure of what they may want or what their own reaction to them should be.

Before long Marina finds a job at the local college where she is an assistant to a married professor. David Van Stein and his wife Megan are parents of two young children. Vera develops a friendship with policeman Jeff Menard, Gleb returns and dies at the hands of another in Moscow and scientist Vlad spends Halloween evening trying to figure out the properties found in the bowl of lollipops his wife set out for little Trick-or-Treaters.

Townspeople become disenchanted with professor Van Stein when they believe him to engage in an affair with Marina. Nina’s mother Alla comes to visit from Russia and before long she and a local gentleman are drawn to one another. Bill only realizes the depth of his feelings after Alla returns to Russia. He soon follows. The book ends with Vlad and Nina preparing for the birth of their second child.

In The Russians Are Coming Lily Alex has produced an interesting glimpse into the lives of a group of common folks who move to a new area and begin to carve out lives for themselves. As with most of us, while the lives of the six are dissimilar they cling to one another because of their ethnic tie. The various relationships described by writer Alex in The Russians Are Coming evolve much as is found in real life. Old relationships die, new ones are formed. Romance is lost under the skillful pen of writer Alex and is found again on the pages of The Russians Are Coming.

The book The Russians Are Coming is written in the delightful Alex technique, Writer Alex is Russian by birth, English is her second language and the book The Russians Are Coming embodies the best of both. From the opening lines The Russians Are Coming set in the student’s laboratory where we find Professor Stein speaking into a cell phone to the last paragraphs when we are told more Russians are coming, writer Alex crafts an energetic tale filled with dynamic characters, intrigue and upbeat settings. Characters are fully fleshed, dialogue is potent, action maintains a steady forward clip.

A good book for a quiet evening, The Russians Are Coming is an enjoyable read.