Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Our American Friend: A Novel

Top positive review

Good read

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2022

This book was a slow burn for me. I picked it up, put it down. Then I would start wondering what the end game was with Sophie and Lara and I finally finished it. Loved the parallel story line and hope this becomes a movie or mini series.

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hrslvr54

Disappointed

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2022

This book is obviously about Donald Trump. If I wanted to read a political book I would have downloaded one.

7 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Ivm88

Good read

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2022

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2022

Verified Purchase

This book is obviously about Donald Trump. If I wanted to read a political book I would have downloaded one.

7 people found this helpful

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KJC

Great Substitute for Ambien

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2022

Verified Purchase

Abandoned after ~45% because I just couldn’t muster any care or enthusiasm for ANY of the characters. I’m mystified how anyone could give this novel five stars.

6 people found this helpful

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Design Fan

Fun, Interesting and Absorbing Read

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2022

Verified Purchase

Whether you're interested in First Ladies, the Cold War, or just a fun thriller, this is the novel for you. Pitoniak's best — so far! Enjoy it.

One person found this helpful

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Kitty

ESPIONAGE

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2022

Verified Purchase

A thrilling story in my beloved Paris, but all the pieces did not fit together for me. I remain confused.

2 people found this helpful

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Erin Reininger

Meh

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2022

Verified Purchase

Nothing exciting or addicting about this book. Not horrible, just not anything to write home about.

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Stacy D

An AMAZING WHAT-IF THRILLER!

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2022

Does Anna PItoniak know CIA secrets we’re not privy to, or is this a fantasy thriller of Melanie Trump being a person of secrecy, substance and bravery? Either way, it’s a completely engaging romp of insider D.C. politics, CIA spying, White House behind-the-scenes moments, and Soviet plots. Here, Donald Trump morphs into President Henry Caine, who comes replete with all Trumpisms of manner, language, bluster, greed and fury. Melania becomes the fictional Lara, who’s born in the Soviet Union instead of Russia and raised in Paris when her KGB father gets assigned embassy work there during the Cold War. Like Melania, Lara’s a loner, a model, and dedicated to her family who she brought over to the U.S. thanks to her husband’s wealth and connections, and to being a Mom. Like Melania, Lara has an elusive, unreadable glass surface and wants total public disengagement. But Lara has a secret past she’s never revealed, one that started with a young brilliant Russian rebel who turned out to the be love of her life.

Lara summons talented White House reporter Sofie Morse, who’s quit her job feeling burnt out covering the incipient Trump-like antics of President Caine. Lara asks Sofie to write her biography. Of note, Lara does not insist on an NDA, and Sofie is both baffled and intrigued. The novel divides into two story lines: third party narration revealing the intimate past of Lara’s life and Sophie’s first-person narration as she gets drawn further and further into Lara’s world. Eventually Sophie’s own life is in danger based on what she learns.

For anyone has truly wondered what may be behind the glamorous contained veneer of Melanie, this book provides a glorious romp into an imaginative explanation that proves wholly satisfying.

4 people found this helpful

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Reviewer

Not just an espionage thriller — deeply emotional attuned

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2022

I loved this book. Though the mechanisms of the story will be recognizable — brash president, mysterious first lady, journalist, spy craft — what really makes it go is the emotional depth. Lara, the First Lady, is motivated by her own personal history and loss. Sophie, the journalist, is forced to grapple with the meaning of her work. Questions of right and wrong become blurry, fraught, and emotionally revealing. Highly, highly, recommend.

7 people found this helpful

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Kelly Gottschalk

If the First Lady was actually a spy...

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2022

Our American Friend mixes recent politics - readers will find more than a few similarities to a recent president and his family, and combines some of the very real red flags and conflicts of interest with a fictional story that has the wife of the president of the United States growing up in Paris when her father is assigned there by the KGB. Sofie, a newspaper reporter, serves as Lana Caine's confidant under the auspice that she is writing a biography. As much as Sofie dislikes the man currently occupying the Oval Office, she is increasingly drawn in by the story Lana has to tell, and how little anyone really knows about her past. The story tends to get a little long-winded at times, but Pitoniak manages to create a story that feels completely believable. Depending on the reader's political opinions and affiliations may depend on how willing they are to go for the ride, but there were definitely moments where I found myself wondering about how far off from reality a situation like this could be. While Sofie tells parts of the story, the book is really about Lana and how her past may impact not just her but the whole entire country. This means that Sofie doesn't always feel fully developed, but most readers will empathize with Lana when tragedy befalls her as a teenager and leads her down a road that will change the course of her life forever.

5 people found this helpful

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Terrific political/espionage thriller

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2022

I thoroughly enjoyed “Our American Friend” by Anna Pitoniak. Part historical novel set during the Cold War and part thriller incorporating yet fictionalizing events from recent headlines, it is an excellent entertainment with a variety of twists and surprises.

First Lady Lara Caine has decided to publish her biography and has chosen former White House correspondent Sophie Morse to write it. But why? Sophie is certainly no friend of the President’s or his administration’s. And just who is the enigmatic, intensely private Lara Caine, and what is her real agenda? Is she a Russian agent bent on destroying the United States? A gold-digger in league with her amoral, wealth-obsessed husband? A victim caught in an abusive relationship? A bitter spouse focused on exacting revenge? And why are Sophie and her husband forced to leave the country?

These were the questions that kept me turning the pages. And I’m glad I did because the answers turn out to be much more complex than I ever imagined.

Plus, I greatly enjoyed spending time with these characters. They are well-developed and likable, facing hard choices where the stakes—professionally, personally, and even globally—are very, very high. At first, readers may think they’re being offered a thinly disguised tale about Melania and Donald Trump. That is not so. While there are certain surface similarities between the two couples and their histories, there are also vast differences and Lara Caine quickly grows into a unique individual—as do all of Pitoniak's other characters, even the minor ones. Caine, in particular, reveals herself to be something of a chess player, remaining several steps ahead of anyone and everyone who might seek to oppose her true purpose.

Author Pitoniak also makes great use of a variety of romantic and exciting settings, including Moscow, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C., and Croatia. She gave me a sense of what it’s like to live and work in each of those places.

All in all, a five-star read for anyone who enjoys political thrillers, tales of espionage, and stories fictionalizing current events.

My thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this work, in exchange for which no promises were made regarding this review.

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