Amanda McCrina has hit it out of the ballpark with this tense and lean Cold War thriller. Meticulously researched and tightly written, what I loved most about this novel is that it relied on no tropes nor stereotypes, but instead plunged the reader into a breathless time and place with authenticity and nuance. Brava. ( )

First sentence: Mom died on Monday morning, June 6, 1955, about half an hour after she dropped me off at school in Kaiserslautern.

Premise/plot: Shelby Blaine is in for a whirlwind experience the summer after her mother dies. The family rushes back to the states. Her military father has a new mission. (Air Force Intelligence officer). He will be one of the men debriefing a Russian defector. Shelby never thought to be involved with Maksym (the Russian defector). But their chance meeting at a social event changes everything...just a day or two later (maybe just a day???) he's on the loose--escaped from custody.

Is he trustworthy? Maybe. Maybe not. Are the agents "protecting" or "guarding" him trustworthy? Maybe. Maybe not. So many stories. So many lies. Can Shelby make sense of anything at all?

Shelby will be forced to question everything and everyone.

MY thoughts: I like this one. I don't know that I loved it. It keeps your head spinning for sure, which was the goal, I suppose. Having seen Alias multiple times, I kept expecting twists and turns--even though Shelby is not in intelligence at all. (She's eighteen and getting ready to go to college.) There were twists and turns. There was a LOT of action. I'm not sure that there needed to be hints of romance. (But there was). ( )