Final Victory

Wade Brogan, Jr., hard-bitten San Francisco detective, suspects that dementia is the source of his failing father’s fanciful tales about his career in the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps during the development of the atom bomb.  Then a Russian derelict, well-padded with years, is found dead in a Tenderloin flophouse.  His room is stacked with shoeboxes full of yellowed documents, many of which bear the fading red stamp, “Top Secret.”  The shroud of skepticism drops from his father’s ramblings about his mother having been a Soviet spy.  Over an evening of beers he shares with his fellow cops the story of how the Japanese and the Russians nearly vaporized the City by the Bay but for the frantic scrambling of Wade Brogan, Sr.

It is a little known fact that the Manhattan Project assembled four nuclear weapons before the end of the Second World War.  One, of course, was tested at Trinity Site, New Mexico, and one each were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as we all know.  The last was held in secrecy for use in the event that Japan did not unconditionally surrender.  Phillip Bosshardt postulates how close to catastrophe we might have come if the Russians and the Japanese had cooperated on information gleaned from the sieve-like security surrounding America’s mad dash to perfect an atom bomb.  This epic length saga tells a chilling tale that rings true at each convolution of plot.  The historical backdrop is expertly woven, the characters fully developed and the pace nearly perfect.  All fans of historical fiction and alternative history are going to love Final Victory. 

251,570 Words (A long one!) 

Price $4.99

Buy at Smashwords 

I didn't find it at Amazon.

The White Prisoner

Galabin Boevski was too small and not well enough connected for acceptance on the football team at Plaven’s sport school so he opted to try weightlifting.  It was a propitious decision.  He proceeded to set records, earn prizes, wealth and win medals—including Olympic Gold.  Officials both rightly and wrongly accused him of doping, coaches and authorities stabbed him in the back, and when he made the foolish mistake of buying new luggage in São Paulo, he was busted with nine kilos of coke surreptitiously sewn into the lining of the suitcase.  Hefting the bulk of a weightlifter then kept him alive for two years in a Brazilian prison.

The world of Bulgarian weightlifting is certainly an esoteric topic and not one I had given much thought, but sports writer, Ognian Georgiev’s journalistic style lends this story—which is based on fact—a kind of urgency that keeps the pages turning.  Boevski’s rise from obscurity, his financial and professional insecurity; physical setbacks, and ultimately, legal struggles, present a compelling story that could unfold anywhere in any sport.  This book has the earmarks of the Louis Zamperini story, Unbroken.  Whether you are a sports enthusiast or not, this is a great read.  

Price $3.99

Buy at Amazon