Many of the secondary, and tertiary characters are unfamiliar to me, so it was difficult to remain engaged. Nonetheless, many of the events made news in the US, so it was good to hear a more detailed account of them. At university in the late 70’s, I had more than a few classes in Russian language, and history. I am interested in this stuff, so I was vexed about my difficulty to remain engaged. In any case, it’s a good story, well delivered. Glad I toughed it out.