First published 2016
Claudette Colbert steps out of an officers' club in Munich one January night in 1946. Four Soviet NKGB agents force her and another WAC into an ambulance at knifepoint. The agents make a fatal miscalculation. Colbert works for the new Directorate of Central Intelligence, and she leaves three attackers dead and one wounded. The botched kidnapping triggers consequences that ripple through the intelligence community. James Cronley, Chief DCI-Europe and Colbert's superior, must navigate the fallout as their fledgling organization faces scrutiny. Germany lies defeated, but Cronley and his operatives find themselves fighting a different war entirely. The enemy has shifted from Nazi Germany to Soviet Russia. The rules of engagement have transformed completely. Everyone involved in the still-forming intelligence apparatus will feel the impact of this single violent encounter in a Munich parking lot.
Genres: historical-fiction, military-fiction, mystery, thriller, action, espionage
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Munich, Germany, Soviet Russia
Period: 1946
467 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: violence