Elena Marikova

About the Book

The setting is a Europe in turmoil during the years 1938-1939. Timo Koskinen, an intelligence agent, is sent by his Finnish government on a mission to assassinate Stalin. Finland fears an invasion by the Soviet Union and believes the assassination will prevent this. Along the way, Timo meets Elena Marikova an attractive young Russian translator of the Finnish language, and an intimate relationship develops. Timo soon discovers that Elena is a member of the Russian underground whose purpose is also to assassinate Stalin to save Russia from his monstrous dictatorship. The love of Timo for his wife gradually cools as his affair with Elena heats up. Coincidentally, the United States State Department sends agents to try to neutralize Stalin in order to hinder the spread of communism in Europe and America. The U.S. agents discover and join with Koskinen, Elena, and the underground in a common cause. The action of the novel involves intrigue and murder in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, confrontations with the dreaded Soviet police, the plot to lure Stalin into a sexual liaison with Elena in order to destroy him, and the violent failure of the plan as a result of the betrayal by a member of the underground.

About the Author

Herbert Eggie was born and lived his early years in Elmhurst, Long Island, New York. His education included the City College of New York and Columbia University Law School. He and his wife Elli moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he spent many years in private law practice. Elli was born in Finland and came to the United States while in her late teens. The couple have visited Finland frequently and those visits have provided much of the facts described in the novel. Several visits to the Soviet Union fill in the fabric upon which this book is written.