The Boy from Reactor 4 (Nadia Tesla) Paperback – March 19, 2013

Great read, very fast paced and well plotted thriller. The main character, a young Ukrainian-American takes a round the world trip of discovery, mystery, and thrills after meeting an old family friend in "downtown" Manhattan. Along the way we're taught about the Chernobyl Zone, Russian and Ukrainian Mobsters, the Gulags under Soviet rule, and Geography of Russia. Once you start reading, you really don't want to put it down; you have too find out what happens next.There were a few parts I didn't get - [SPOILERS HERE]Victor's daughter Tara was the "good" daughter, jjust got herself involved with the wrong man that got her pregnant. Misha beat, and controlled her, and Victor did save her. But then you had his cousin Kirlio, his daughter Isabella was a spoiled brat that treated him like dirt, loving him only for his money. But he wouldn't do anything about her boyfriend.So the author presented the reader with three female characters, all basically daughters of thieves. Victor's daughter Tara grew up in America, but needed Daddy's help to escape an abusive relationship. Kirlio's daughter Isabella grew up in the Ukraine, but was a spoiled brat. Then you had Nadia, American born daughter, but like her Father, resilient, fast thinking, able to make quick decisions - a true thief's daughter. Comparing Nadia to the others is like comparing night to day. Where was today's Woman in these other two? Why weren't they stronger figures, more independent? They should have been. like i said, these parts didn't make sense to me, it didnt fit in with the theme of a more independent woman, like when the author mentioned Goddess Athena, and Orskana, the old woman taking care of Damian - what she did in her past. for this i took off a star.One last note : has this novel been optioned for a motion picture yet? If not, it should be; it would make an awesome movie (as long as the Screenwriter left out the Tara and Isabella subplots (or most of them ).

Emblematic of the fascination with Chernobyl is the title of this book. And the the second magic city is New York, where Nadia Tesla becomes enmeshed with a web of intrigue centered around the Ukranian underground way of doing business. She hears the dying words of a man and is immediately drawn into the honor bound court system. Soon she finds herself going back to Ukraine, where she thinks she might have been happy if given another life. Despite her Modern facade, she is well versed in the old ways and in the convolution of honor and tradition. And I like a character who surprises herself nearly as often as she surprises me.My second favorite character Victor is a survivor of great sorrow and great accomplishment. He is given to pithy comments on the ways of the underworld and seems to show up exactly where we were not looking. He really should have died many times during the book. And loitering in the background is the shroud of Chernobyl which no one should have survived but some in fact did.I despair of trying to deliver a cogent summary of a plot line. I think this is the very point of the book to impress upon us the the sheer enmeshment of systems coming from the former Soviet Union. The author supplies us with numerous scenes of self government within the underground and from the prisons and gulags of Stalin. While following the book was demanding, it was not difficult or confusing. I believe the effort is worthwhile.

This is an all-right story. Between the time that I got this book and when I read it I had refreshed my memory about what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear plant. In that time the significance of "reactor four" was forgotten, only to be recalled as I started reading the book. This book had some references to the science and medicine of radiation and radiation exposure. Unfortunately, many people will confuse and use interchangeably the terms radiation and radioactivity and the author is not immune from that.What is distressing is the description of scenarios in which people go to great lengths to avoid those sent to follow them and when they do the reader learns that it didn't matter since the bad guys find out where they are anyway.The descriptions of the events and the scenarios was, for the most part, well-done even though the likelihood of the events was a bit contrived. It was easy reading.This review could apply to the other books with the same characters since they are all part of the same story which could have been presented in one book. The title of another of them, The Boy Who Glowed in the Dark, was hard to take. Goodness! People DO NOT glow regardless of exposure to radiation or being contaminated with radioactive substances.I did manage to finish the three "The Boy" books so a kind of interesting story even though somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

I have never learned this much about eastern Europe and the history of the "new" Russian gangsters. What a refreshing heroine and a cast of characters that kept me guessing as to their motivation. Awesome - kept me up reading.

Lu en anglais.Une course poursuite à travers le globe en passant par l’Ukraine. Les descriptions donnent envie d’aller visiter le pays. L’histoire est rondement menée et ne laisse pas place à l’ennui.

I'm a literature snob, so I don't really understand why I liked this book so much. But I did. Maybe because I read it during the summer. Anyway, it is exciting and very informative, kind of a political thriller, but not overly dramatic. I found its plot almost believable and highly entertaining. Ever since I read it I've been wanting to find out much more about Chernobyl and the current situation of the reactor zone.

I thought this was a well-written, really enjoyable crime caper novel. The action was fast and I thought that to keep the pace up, the short chapter style worked well (I know some readers haven't liked that element of the book, but it worked for me). The heroine, Nadia, was stylish, resourceful and cunning, and she bears a good likeness to "the fox" to which her fellow characters compare her. Adam is a good hero too - I liked the fact that he had his background in "the Zone" and I felt he offered something different than the usual standard run-of-the-mill hero. I really enjoyed reading the section in the book which is based in the Ukraine itself. It was a fascinating window into another world and I found it so interesting to read about Chernobyl and "the Zone" in the aftermath of nuclear meltdown. Some of the other characters aren't quite as strong as the leads - the Mafia characters are a bit more stereotypical, but there's a good twist at the end. Also "Specter" as a name for a spy? Bit obvious, but there you go. At least it turns out that it's not his real name. It's a real page turner this one, and it didn't take me long to get through at all. At the end I was racing through it faster than the hero and heroine are racing away from their pursuers. One criticism: the author puts the wrong character name on page 280 - he refers to "Nadia and Damian" boarding a train, when, of course, it should be "Nadia and Adam". Damian we had last seen dying in "the Zone." It's a small thing but it speaks volumes of lack of editing and checking which I find intensely irritating. When a book reaches this stage it should be as polished as it is possible to be, and not contain basic, silly errors.This - very minor point aside - I can recommend this one - there's not much substance to it, but the pace and action is good and it's very, very readable.

This book is a good one with the current crisis in Kiev. I'm assuming all the places are real and that Chernobyl happened nearby. One is introduced to the boy in the first chapter and we don't meet him again until later when Nadia finds him. Bureaucracy and villains had to be overcome before they could leave. Nadia is a good character who has the usual ups and downs of a hero and the reader is kept on edge as she bulldozes her way out of strife.