Agent 6 is the final book in Tom Rob Smith’s Soviet trilogy, but it can safely be read without reading the previous two books, Child 44 and The Secret Speech. Once again, Smith’s hero, Leo Demidov is tossing into a boil cauldron of violence and deceit. Leo is an adviser to the Soviet Army in their invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Of course, Leo counsels against the invasion, but his advice is ignored. The brutality of the Soviet occupation is graphically presented. At the same time, Leo is also trying to get to America to solve a murder. The plot is deliciously convoluted. Tom Rob Smith captures the loopy Soviet group-think perfectly. The only book I can think of that comes close to the excellence of this Soviet trilogy is Martin Cruz Smith’s Gorky Park. GRADE: B+