?Because he was allowed access to many [of] the archives that remain off-limits to researchers and because he was lucky enough to interview a few of the remaining survivors, Arkadi Vaksberg has written a very intelligent spy story that John Le Carré would certainly approve of. He does all this without forgetting to be fair and that his subject?Gorky?was after all something of a wild visionary.? Angelo Rinaldi in L'Express ??..Stalin had been waiting for this moment. No matter which version of Gorky's death is considered the most likely one, Stalin had no doubt whatsoever that the writer's fatal hour with the inevitable was drawing near. When it did come, Stalin was informed immediately. Stalin assigned supervision for the transfer of the body from the outskirts of Moscow to the Hall of Columns in the House of Unions, where for twelve years final respects had been paid to important Soviet corpses, to his security chief, Karl Pauker, formally occupying the post of head of the operative department of the NKVD. The escort for the dead writer was accorded the same level of significance as the escort for a living leader. Less than two years remained before Pauker would be dispatched by the executioner's bullet in the basement of the Lubyanka.? ?From the book by A. Vaksberg AUTHOR: Arkadi Vaksberg was born in Siberia in 1922, studied law and journalism and has been the Paris correspondent of the magazine Literaturnaia Gazeta for many years. Known for his many articles on history and politics, Vaksberg is the author of many books such as HOTEL LUX, VISHINSKY, and ALEXANDRA KOLLONTAI as well as several novels. Vaksberg is also vice president of the Russian PEN Club. He divides his time between Paris and Moscow
