Bombshell

Max Allan Collins is a New York Times Bestselling Author.

It's September 1959 -- the height of the Cold War. As American school children "duck and cover" in classroom drills, Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev suddenly announces he wants to visit the United States. President Eisenhower agrees to the history-making trip. Khrushchev has only two demands: he wants to see Disneyland . . . and Marilyn Monroe. He was, for security reasons, refused his first request; the second request, a meeting with Hollywood's blonde bombshell, was arranged . . . What if Marilyn was the only one who was aware of a covert plot to kill Khrushchev? When a State Department agent refuses to take Marilyn seriously, the sex goddess takes it upon herself to rescue the famous Russian, spiriting him away for a midnight visit to the theme park he longs to see. At once an historical novel, espionage thriller, and comic mystery, Bombshell accomplishes something few if any of the scores of books on these two icons of the 20th century manage: to bring to life the great movie star and the Russian dictator as real people . . . human, flawed, and, in their own individual ways, heroic.

Barbara and Max Allan Collins live in Muscatine, Iowa.

It's 1959, the cold war is escalating, and Nikita Khrushchev is coming to the U.S. Along with the expected official meetings, Khrushchev wants to meet Marilyn Monroe and visit Disneyland. The Monroe meeting goes well, but the premier is incensed when his trip to Disneyland is canceled. Meanwhile, Monroe overhears two Soviet security agents discussing a plot to assassinate Khrushchev. Marilyn helps hatch a plan to protect "Nikki," who winds up getting his Disneyland visit after all--and with a very comely guide. The Collins have taken an event based in history--Khruschev's U.S. visit--and shaped it with wonderful characterizations (Nikki and Marilyn have never been more interesting) to re-create an era within the context of a delightful comic adventure (a cold-war variation on Roman Holiday). This is sure to interest fans of Max Allan Collins' Nate Heller series, which offers fictional solutions to real-life mysteries of the 1940s and '50s. Wes Lukowsky
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