Iron Curtain Lies and Spies: The Cold War Begins

By Gary Kidney

★ STARRED REVIEW ★

"A perfect read for fans... John le Carr and Graham Greene." -BlueInk Review

From the author of The Eagle Scout Picture, winner of the 2025 Readers' Favorite Gold Medal for Espionage Thriller.

The heart-pounding sequel to The Eagle Scout Picture takes readers deep behind Soviet lines in a dual-identity game of nuclear cat-and-mouse. Fredericksburg, Texas, 1946. Fred Brown survived World War II by living a dangerous double life: an American Eagle Scout who burrowed into the heart of the Nazi regime as SS Officer Zelly Zellner.

Now trying to heal from severe dissociative identity disorder alongside his wife, Meg, and their young son, Fred believes his shadow days are behind him. He is wrong. When a Soviet SMERSH hit squad assassinates a key German rocket technician in Berlin, the newly formed CIA realizes the fragile post-war peace is on the verge of total collapse. The Soviets are aggressively hunting for the secrets of atomic weaponry and missile guidance-and a dying confession has placed Zelly Zellner at the top of their target list. Pulled back into action by legendary spymaster "Wild Bill" Donovan, Fred must once again adopt his terrifyingly familiar Nazi alter-ego. As a triple agent pretending to be an American Counterintelligence officer while passing himself off to the burgeoning Gehlen Organization as a former Gestapo elite, Fred embarks on a high-stakes chase across a fractured Europe.

From the pockmarked ruins of Berlin to a hidden missile silo in the Jonastal Valley, Fred must uncover exactly what the Soviets know before a new conflict ignites. But the hunt doesn't stop at the borders of the shattered Reich. Trailed by Kirya Makarova, a brilliant and deadly Soviet "Sparrow" agent, Fred is lured down the infamous Vatican Ratline-a clandestine network smuggling top-tier war criminals to the safety of South America. Blending meticulous historical research with pulse-pounding espionage suspense, Iron Curtain Lies and Spies is an extraordinary tale of psychological fracture, nuclear brinkmanship, and one man's desperate struggle to remember who he is before he forgets his true homeland forever.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 196601242X
• ISBN13: 9781966012429
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: Silent Key Press
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"