Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of The Charm School

The Charm School
The Charm School
Author: Nelson DeMille
ISBN-13: 9780446675093
ISBN-10: 0446675091
Publication Date: 7/1/1999
Pages: 816
Rating:
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 56

4.1 stars, based on 56 ratings
Publisher: Warner Books
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

51 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

spiffo avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
Outstanding read! A secret Russian program to train their KGB agents to pass for Americans by setting up a camp to duplicate an American town filled with Vietnam War POWs.
Pen avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 17 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Wow, twists and turns and spies!! The scary thing about this book is the fact that I believe (at least) that this could really happen or heck it could be happening already!!!

The world we live in!

I never knew up to the very end what the outcome would be!!

I know its an old book, but it is worth the read if you have never read this book. I had never read it and everyone sitting in the room when the book was brought up in discussion was practically appalled that I had never read this book!
reviewed The Charm School on + 62 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
An 80's Russian Spy novel. Well-written, easy to follow, great book if you have any interest in the Cold War espionage era. Lots of action, intrigue, and even a little romance.
spOOnman avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 51 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Demille never misses with his plots and humor.
reviewed The Charm School on + 15 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Interesting book. I think more guys would be into this.
thrifted avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Best Cold War fiction I've ever read.
reviewed The Charm School on + 8 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
An American tourist picks up a U.S. POW with a secret revealing a KGB conspiracy.

Fast paced and well written.
reviewed The Charm School on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Couldn't put this book down...great read!!
reviewed The Charm School on + 30 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
THIS BOOK WAS DESCRIBED AS BEING PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN. THAT IS REALLY PRETTY CLOSE TO THE TRUTH.
reviewed The Charm School on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A superlative story, the plot is so good and so gripping that you cant put it down. Takes place in Russia.
reviewed The Charm School on + 49 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A little dated as it takes place during the cold war in the 1980's, but still a very good read. For those of us who lived through that, it will bring back memories.
J avatar reviewed The Charm School on
Helpful Score: 1
Great book!!!! Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. So suspenseful! I would definitely recommend this to anyone.
reviewed The Charm School on + 39 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A taut conspiracy novel in the totalitarian days of Russia - one that kept me reading late into the night
Readnmachine avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 1438 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I don't read much espionage, but enjoyed this one. There were times when the testosterone level was so high that I expected the pages to start sprouting whiskers but it was a rousing read, full of Cold War bad guys and Spy vs. Spy adventures.
reviewed The Charm School on + 8 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
One of my favorite book by one of my favorite authors. I spent 9 months in the Soviet Union in the early eighties and this one hits the mark. This is "book crack" for the mind.
reviewed The Charm School on
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent book - really makes you think - is there a Charm School today - if so you start to wonder about your neighbors and co-workers!
turtledi avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is an amazing book. Probably the most exciting book I have ever read. An American kid driving through Russia comes into Moscow with a secret told to him about a place called The Charm School. The agents at the American Embassy start an investigation and the KGB does their darnedest to keep them from finding out anything. The excitement is very high throughout. The characters are believable. Highly recommend this book. You won't be disappointed.
reviewed The Charm School on + 15 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
great thriller! one of demilles best. defines 'page turner'.
reviewed The Charm School on + 8 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
My 1st intro to Nelson DeMille, great read that I couldn't put down. I'm looking for more right away.
Susanaque avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 422 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
...The best kind of book,,,intense, visually descriptive, fast paced...a well written story that keeps you awake long past bedtime.
reviewed The Charm School on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book was really suspenseful. It was about CIA in russia duing the coldwar. Even had some mushy parts for me (as a girl) to keep me interested. I loved the twists and turns of adventure but it was still practical.
reviewed The Charm School on
Helpful Score: 1
I didn't think I would like this book but I loved it.
rmary avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 3 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is a good book. I read it not long after it came out, wow, that was awhile back! Usually I don't read books on Russia unless it's fiction based on history.

Thriller ...The Charm School. Something very strange -- and sinister -- is going on in the Russian woods. In a place called Mrs. Ivanova's Charm School, young KGB agents are being taught by American POW's how to be model citizens of the USA, in order to infiltrate the United States undetected. An unsuspecting American tourist stumbles upon this secret... The Charm School is a chilling story of cold war espionage that is relentlessly suspenseful right up to its white-knuckle ending!
tish avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 384 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
this was my first DeMille book,so many years ago.it still remains myfavorite. it tells the tale in the cold war era,set in russia and the discoveryof the Charm School...if i tell you anymore,it would ruin it.
this book set me on a DeMille journey that has lasted many years.his older stuff is much better than hi current works.
reviewed The Charm School on
A classic late Cold War thriller. A real page-turner, with a fine descriptive eye for detail in post-Stalin Soviet Union.
reviewed The Charm School on + 6 more book reviews
This was my first experience with DeMille when I was about 15. What an exceptional author! For the most part, every book has gotten better! Charm School is classic cold war! Love it!
reviewed The Charm School on + 4 more book reviews
Great story
reviewed The Charm School on + 9 more book reviews
Good spy type novel
reviewed The Charm School on + 52 more book reviews
Awesome!
reviewed The Charm School on
Excellent book. The suspense keeps coming all the way to the end.
reviewed The Charm School on + 68 more book reviews
What a thriller! Top notch suspense, cold war spy thriller. Very exciting journey into the cold heartland of Russia. What they discover is both surreal and diabolical. A must read!
reviewed The Charm School on
Great read....
reviewed The Charm School on
Another typical DeMille book, very good reading.
number47 avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 4 more book reviews
Hands down, my favorite Demille novel, EVER. It is your classic mix of espionage and thriller. I am an twenty-something adn think it may not appeal to a lot of people my age, due to their lack of knowledge and understanding of the Cold War. I, however, get just as hung up it as I do the Vietnam war, so Demille's military books suit me just fine. I have read 10 of his novels and have yet to find one disappointing. Pick up this book, fall in love with Lisa, hope the best for her and Hollis, and always keep an eye out for Alevy; you'll read it again within the year. I promise (this comes from a guy who has never re-read a book in is life) that if you're into spy stories and/or the Cold War that this is THE book for you.
reviewed The Charm School on + 2 more book reviews
The sterotypes of Russians and Soviets gets very tedious and tiresome after awhile. Also, this book is way too predictable. I have read several books by DeMille before and thought they were great, but this one just wasn't very good.
reviewed The Charm School on + 93 more book reviews
Awesome book, makes you wonder how many of these places actually exist!
reviewed The Charm School on
One of my favorites, spy novels don not get much better than this. A book that is hard to put down, and one of the few books that I find enjoyable to reread.
justreadingabook avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 1710 more book reviews
Wow, this is a great exciting book that fills in alot about the characters. You will enjoy the fastpaced storyline and intrigue. A can't miss read.
reviewed The Charm School on + 2 more book reviews
Loved this book!
reviewed The Charm School on + 7 more book reviews
Engrossing story, DeMille at his best.
countryd avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 7 more book reviews
This is one of the best books I've ever read. I just loved it.
reviewed The Charm School on + 9 more book reviews
Loved it
buzzby avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 6062 more book reviews
(Spoiler alert - sort of) American exceptionalism at its fictional best.
reviewed The Charm School on + 8 more book reviews
gripping
reviewed The Charm School on + 63 more book reviews
Loved it!!!!
reviewed The Charm School on + 95 more book reviews
This is one great book.What a movie this would make if the British make the movie,because the left coast tgwits would ruin the movie,everthing is in this book,suspense,intrigue,adventure and great characters
reviewed The Charm School on + 28 more book reviews
THIS IS A GREAT BOOK I LOVE NELSON DEMILLE
reviewed The Charm School on + 4 more book reviews
I read this book when it first came out (1988) and enjoyed it. Now it seems dated.
reviewed The Charm School on + 40 more book reviews
I loved this book! I lent it out
redrose451 avatar reviewed The Charm School on + 33 more book reviews
Love this guy!!!
reviewed The Charm School on + 5 more book reviews
From back cover: On a dark road deep inside Russia, a young American tourist picks up a most unusual passenger - a U.S. POW on the run wiht an incredible secret to reveal to an unsuspecting world.