Frederick Forsyth's - "The Devils Alternative" Quiz

Answer: False

It is not about a literal "devil's alternative". As the hero tells the President of the United States at one point, it means making an unpleasant choice which has the least fatalities.

Answer: There was no movie

Surprisingly, this excellent story has never been transferred to the silver screen. The actors mentioned starred in other Forsyth movies. Most of his other books have been turned into movies but not this one. Very odd.

Answer: Both

It starts in 1982 with the rescue of a dying castaway floating on the Black Sea. A year later, the poor man has long since recovered and is now part of an extremist plot to capture the world's attention. This book is unique because it is the first Forsyth story to be set in the future not the past (it was published in 1979).

Answer: New Zealand

This book, out of all of Frederick's, involves more countries than any other. Europe, America, Japan, Scandinavia, the USSR, you name it. My own homeland, however, was not included (sob).

Answer: All these reasons

Drake's real name is Andriy Drach. He was born and raised in England by a Ukrainian father who told him all about his exiled homeland. Drake has made contact over the years with other Ukrainians living in the West who share his deep loathing of Moscow and the injuries it has inflicted on Ukraine. Now, Drake may finally have an opportunity to avenge his people's pride.

He goes to Turkey, makes contact with the recovering castaway Kaminsky, and asks for details of any other political dissidents in Ukraine.

He had correctly guessed Kaminsky was a rebel who'd fled Ukraine to avoid the wrath of the KGB.

Answer: The SIS (aka MI6)

Adam has an interesting history. He was born in Scotland, served in the military and joined the SIS later on. He was working in West Berlin before the Berlin Wall went up, and he lost the woman he loved when she crossed to the other side. She didn't want to leave him, but knew her Russian family would suffer if she married outside the Eastern Bloc. Twenty years later, Adam is assigned to the British Embassy in Moscow and pleasantly surprised to meet her again! Her news, however, is not so pleasant...

Answer: Famine

Due to a series of accidents, bad luck and carelessness, the Soviet Union will not be able to produce enough grain to feed everyone next year. They will have to dig into reserves, slaughter their livestock, and drastically ration civilians, but it still won't be enough.

The Kremlin knows they will have to buy an unprecedented amount of grain from the United States - probably in return for humiliating arms concessions. Either that, or prepare for massive food riots across their evil empire, and the probable end of the latter.

Answer: False

No - an unprovoked attack against The West is suggested by Vishnayev, a power-hungry Politburo member who naively believes the USA will not respond. This man is after Rudin's job and does not want to crawl to anyone for grain. He and his growing faction want to TAKE it from the "rich Europeans". Rudin's faction are able to outvote these hardliners, but only by the skin of their teeth. Everybody knows if anything else undermines Rudin's administration, he will be ousted, replaced by Vishnayev and war will be a certainty.

Answer: She is a Kremlin typist

Adam has not seen Valentina for 20 years, but he still loves her. She surprises him in Moscow by appearing out of the blue and handing him a copy of the secret meeting's transcript she witnessed in terror. She loves her country, but she knows her country will be ruined if the maniacs in charge really DO invade Europe. (It turns out later, however, there is more to her betrayal than meets the eye.)

Answer: Nightingale

Adam has only been in Moscow a few weeks, but he now has a mole deep inside the Kremlin itself! But Valentina now has a son and she fears for their lives if she is caught. Adam promises to get the two of them safely out of the Soviet Union and living with him.

He decides not tell his own people who the Nightingale really is, in case of a leak. He says it's a known grumpy dissatisfied man inside the Kremlin. He knows he will be sacked when Valentina defects and the truth discovered, but he loves her so much he does not care.

The London and Washington governments tell him they will be happy to bring The Nightingale out to the West - but not until the usefulness comes to an end.

Answer: An unusual oil-tanker puts to sea

Readers witness Norwegian sea captain Thor Larsen's Swedish employer introduce him to his new project: a recordbreakingly huge oil tanker called The "Freya". It is built and waiting for its crew in Japan. Now the shipowner wants his old friend to sail it from Japan to Holland on its maiden voyage.

But the Freya is so big it cannot short-cut through the English Channel or Suez Canal - it will have to go all the way around Africa and the British Isles. At first its voyage seems to be going well, and nothing out of the ordinary happens.

The crew are relaxing, blissfully ignoring the news about grain dealings between the USA and the USSR which can't possibly effect them out here at sea. Little do they know!

Answer: Killing the head of the KGB

When Drake meets Kaminsky he arranges for him to be sent to London as a refugee under his sponsorship. Little does anyone know the two are working out a plan to humiliate Russia and deal a crippling blow to so-called Socialism. Drake finally gets his wish and visits the land of his forefathers to meet two other rebels Kaminsky knew.

As fate would have it, one of them knows the address of Yuri Ivanenko's mother - the head of the KGB himself. They use her as bait, neatly clip her in a staged car accident in Kiev, and wait outside the hospital with guns as her son comes racing down from Moscow to see her.

Answer: The possibility of WW3 increases

At first it seems to have worked. The head of the KGB has been killed and the two shooters vanish into the night without being seen. But (although the victim undoubtedly deserved it) it was the worst time to assassinate him; he was one of the anti-war faction in the Kremlin.

Not only that, but if news of this humiliating blow to the KGB and Russian superiority is made public, Maxim Rudin will be ousted for certain. Then no one (East or West) will be able to prevent the Politburo hardliners from invading Europe!

Answer: The Dublin Treaty

Having little alternative, the Soviets have approached the United States asking to buy grain. The United States already know how desperate Rudin and co are thanks to their spy satellites - not to mention the mysterious "Nightingale". In return, Washington and the rest of NATO are demanding Russian arms restrictions, Warsaw Pact cutbacks, cold-war concessions etc. All this is being negotiated in Dublin.

But the Americans know they cannot push the Russians TOO far, otherwise the pro-WW3 faction will take over and have their way. Valentina, Adam's love, is still risking her life by telling him what the Politburo can and cannot accept. Adam feels terrible asking her to help.

It annoys him that his superiors are more interested in information than The Nightingale's safety.

Answer: An airplane hijacking fails

The two men in Drake's gang who shoot Ivanenko are also Jewish. Naturally they would rather live in Israel than Ukraine but have been refused permission for years. Now, they need to get out more than ever! The original plan was to hijack an airplane, go to West Berlin, and release passengers in exchange for fuel to get them to Tel Aviv - where they would hold a press conference and announce to the world they shot the KGB chief (the Russians have been desperately keeping that quiet).

But their hijack goes wrong when (a) they accidentally kill the captain when landing and (b) a soldier shoots their plane's front tire.

They have to surrender at that point (luckily they were in West Berlin; they would have been executed straight away in EAST Berlin). Never-the-less, back in London, Drake and co are furious.

They need a plan to free their chums, and quick!

Answer: They decide to hijack it

Captain Larsen and his crew of 30 are less than a day out from Rotterdam. At night a fishing boat comes alongside and armed men in black suits and balaclavas leap aboard. Drake locks up everyone but Larsen, and then forces the poor captain at gunpoint to radio his demands.

His men rig explosives throughout the tanker's numerous oil holds. Unless two men in a West Berlin jail are freed and sent to Israel for asylum, Drake will press his tiny detonator. This will not only kill 30 innocent seamen - it will flood the whole North Sea with an unprecedented amount of oil, ruining many coastlines. Certainly not a pleasant thought! As a demonstration, Drake releases a minor oil slick the next day. Everyone, including the President of the United States, is asking the Bonn and Jerusalem governments to do as Drake says.

Answer: False

Rudin knows if the two murderers are set free they will literally tell the world they killed the head of his KGB. For weeks he has done his utmost to keep the secret from leaking out, not least because his rivals would use the humiliation to kill him.

His people have now confirmed the two men in prison ARE the same two from Kiev that night. The KGB are preparing to murder the two Jewish-Ukrainians in their cells. But, if they are released thanks to this new development...World War III will be unavoidable! The poor President of The United States (and all his NATO friends) face a terrible choice: let the two men go and watch a war begin. Or don't, and face a terrible ecological disaster that could be worse in the long run! Luckily, Adam Munro thinks of a third idea: a Devil's Alternative.

He boldly goes into 10 Downing Street and outlines his idea to his superiors and the PM. But, his beloved Valentina had disappeared, and his tone and manner are rather aggressive and inappropriate (his superiors had asked Valentina to find out why Rudin is against freeing the two men, and she did, then disappeared). London and Washington don't care that she could well be dead and Adam is furious.

The PM, though unimpressed with his tone, thinks Adam's new idea may work, and arranges for him to be flown straight to Washington DC to brief the president. However, as Adam himself knows, he will soon have to resign.

Answer: False

Drake had made it quite clear over the ship-to-shore radio he would not tolerate any ships or airplanes within five miles of the anchored Freya. Everyone obeys him, except for a reckless freelancer who hires a French plane to fly over to take photos. Drake is enraged, and an orbiting US spy-plane videotapes one of his men drag a sailor up to the deck and shoot him down. What they DON'T see later that night is: the murdered man getting to his feet, taking off his disguise and bullet-proof vest, laughing in a Ukrainian accent, and joining Drake on the bridge.

Answer: False

One must admire Andrew Drake, he and his plan were extremely clever. But not as clever as our hero Adam Munro! After convincing the President of the United States to accept "the devil's alternative", Adam flies in a supersonic jet from Washington DC to Moscow to confer with Rudin and then on to West Berlin to arrange the release of the two prisoners (the KGB couldn't liquidate them because the Germans had moved them to another jail). Maxim Rudin grudgingly agrees to Adam's plan; he raises no more objections to their release. But, what no one knows, is that the British secretly inject the two murderers with an untraceable lethal chemical before they leave for Israel.

They die after setting foot onto their peoples' homeland before they can announce whom they killed. But, aboard The Freya, Andrew Drake and co do not know that yet and are whooping and howling with delight.

They quickly vacate the hostage ship, but not before Drake gets into a fight with Captain Larsen who thought they really HAD killed a sailor. Larsen is not shot; which shows Drake is not all bad - he did not believe in spilling innocent blood.

The hijackers' fishing boat contains a couple of concealed water-scooters and the men take off east in them - towards the island-filled Dutch coast. It is pitch black and there's no way anyone will find them. Pretty clever. Except...they are all caught in the oil slick they released earlier! It is an easy matter for the nearest US warship to fire a missile into the oil...

Answer: False

Poor Adam is heart-broken. Even though he has saved the world, it seems the KGB caught Valentina and silenced her; he never hears from her again. But, once the crisis has passed, Premier Rudin requests Adam's presence at a state function and takes him into a private room.

He reveals some good and bad news. The good news is: Valentina is alive and well, and was never in any danger of being executed...because she was acting on Rudin's orders the whole time! The bad news is: she never really wanted to go West and marry Adam, that was just part of the act.

She had to convince him and the SIS her information was genuine (Rudin WANTED transcripts of his meetings in CIA and SIS hands to show how much pressure he was under). Poor Adam leaves the party at that point. One would think he would be devastated, but he walks down the street laughing happily.

He truly did love Valentina, and is just happy she's alive.