[In "The Americans"] John Jakes again proves his superior storytelling skills in the eighth volume of the Kent Family Chronicles (and, Jakes suggests in his afterword, perhaps the last installment for a while)…. Jakes's characterizations and lively historical detail entirely envelop the reader, who will be left with the hope that the author decides to bring the Kent family into the 20th century.

A review of "The Americans," in Publishers Weekly (reprinted from the December 24, 1979 issue of Publishers Weekly, published by R. R. Bowker Company, a Xerox company; copyright © 1979 by Xerox Corporation), Vol. 216, No. 25, December 24, 1979, p. 56.