Lies and Spies
The Cold War Begins
Name: Fred Brown, AKA Don Richardson
Current Picture:
I was as glad as anyone to see the war end. Convincing the Army to let me return to the US was a challenge because one of their doctors diagnosed me with schizophrenia. General Sibert, my commander in the OSS, tore up the report. I’ve enjoyed life on the homefront with an Irish wife, baby, and Fergus, my best friend who saved me from Nazi execution with a song.
I knew my peace was to be short-lived. There were too many questions left unanswered at the end of the war. Also, every month the OSS sent me a paycheck and they assigned me a Russian language tutor. It wasn’t too difficult to guess my next assignment.
It came on a Sunday, right in the middle of Pastor O.C. Baltzer’s long-winded prayer. My little boy, Gunny, shouted “Soldiers!” when three generals crashed through the church double doors. I figured Meg, my wife, would be furious, but she took it in stride. Most German Lutherans in Fredericksburg, Texas, watched me rush down the aisle to them.
The trio whisked me away from the farm right after a fried chicken dinner. I had a lot to do on mission #2. Like usual, I was pretty well on my own, but I could see the value of my crash-course in Russian. What chilled me most was learning that someone high in the spy organizations of the US or Great Britain was a double agent. Of course, I was to sniff him out. But, he already had me pegged, and alerted a Soviet kill team of my arrival in Europe. Once again, my chances of survival were near zero, especially since the traitor had revealed my previous identity of Zelly Zellner, a personal spy for Himmler.
If you were asked to go on a second spy mission, would you go?
When the first one caused you psychological trauma?
When you have to leave your wife and baby?
When a double agent can compromise everything?
This 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.
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Awards and Recognition for Iron Curtain Lies and Spies
Starred Review from BlueInk Review
“Chockfull of intrigue, betrayal, seduction, tension and violence, the novel is a perfect read for fans of espionage, high-stake politics and history, or the works of John le Carré and Graham Greene.”
See the entire review below.
Reviews of Iron Curtain Lies and Spies
Review from Readers’ Favorite by Tanya Kay — 5 Stars
Gary Kidney’s Iron Curtain Lies and Spies is an intense look at the fragile peace in the aftermath of the Second World War. The narrative centers on Fred Brown, a veteran who has highly classified information about German rocket guidance systems from his time undercover as an SS officer. When the burgeoning Cold War threatens to boil over, the government pulls Fred away from his wife and toddler to act as bait for an aggressive Soviet intelligence unit. Traveling under the name Don Richardson, Fred must infiltrate a new spy network and navigate the ruins of the Reich while keeping his fractured mind from falling apart. With a deadly Russian handler hot on his heels, the landscape is a minefield of secrets. Can a man with two distinct personalities outplay the world’s most dangerous intelligence agencies and keep his sanity intact?
Gary Kidney’s Iron Curtain Lies and Spies is a Cold War novel that hooks you immediately because of its unique take on the immense psychological strain of living a double life. The character development here is phenomenal, especially in watching Fred draw on his old memories and specific military credentials to bluff his way out of tight spots with global powers. The author has a great knack for writing tight, suspenseful scenes, whether the characters are examining suspicious atomic evidence or evading capture near the ruins of Berlin. The story incorporates a lot of mystery into it and is handled beautifully. It keeps you guessing about who the actual double agent is, adding to the excitement of the unfolding plot. I really appreciate how the author keeps the focus on smart deductive reasoning and historical accuracy, not excessive, outlandish action sequences. By and large, it’s a stellar, thought-provoking read that I highly recommend to any fan of the genre.
Review from Readers’ Favorite by Eric Ferrar — 5 Stars
Iron Curtain Lies and Spies by Gary Kidney pulls you straight into the exciting world of post-WWII espionage. The story follows Fred, a Texas family man forced to leave his simple life behind and head back to a broken Europe. During the war, Fred managed to stay alive by playing the part of a Nazi named Zelly Zellner, but now the Americans need his secret knowledge again. He has to take on multiple fake identities, including a US counterintelligence officer and a Gestapo elite, to track down what the Soviets are doing with missing rocket technology. With a lethal Russian female operative chasing him across different occupation zones, Fred has to stay one step ahead while his own mind begins to splinter. Will he manage to complete this impossible mission before he fully loses his real identity?
Gary Kidney’s Iron Curtain Lies and Spies is an exciting historical spy thriller that delivers a rollercoaster ride, which kept me scrolling through the pages at the speed of light. What really stands out is the fascinating psychological battle happening right inside the main character’s head, as the American family man and the hardened German alter ego constantly bicker over control. The pacing is very fast, leaping from high-stakes vehicle chases in Hamburg to tense conversations near hidden missile silos. The author writes in a very direct, cinematic style that makes the historical setting feel vibrant and alive without slowing things down. Watching Fred use his wits to outmaneuver rival intelligence networks while dealing with his own guilt was the most moving part of the story. It’s a fantastic piece of historical fiction that offers a refreshing, human look at the early days of the Cold War. Historical thriller fans will relish every word.
Starred Review from BlueInk Review
Iron Curtain: Lies and Spies is author Gary Kidney’s enthralling sequel to his well-regarded debut, The Eagle Scout Picture. Picking up the story in 1946, the novel explores the post-war dynamic of cleaning up the remains of Nazi Germany and accepting the new Cold War order of tension between the U.S. and Russia and the race to lay claim to nuclear weapons.
The protagonist is Fred Brown/Zelly Zellner, a Texas man diagnosed with schizophrenia who spies for the allies during WWII as SS officer Zellner. Postwar, he’s recruited by the OSS intelligence service, now evolving into the CIA, to return to Berlin to stop the Russians from gaining atomic warfare secrets.
Kidney emphasizes the psychological toll of deep-cover espionage. His protagonist, now thrust into the murky, paranoia-fueled landscape of postwar Europe, finds himself caught in a nuclear cat-and-mouse game behind Soviet lines. Where the first book established a foundation of wartime survival, this installment shifts the focus to the complexities of a divided world.
Kidney is a terrific writer and master of pacing who researches deep historical details that lend the book authenticity and accuracy. But the most fascinating aspect of both books is the main character, who Kidney purposefully depicts as constantly switching identities, whether he’s an American officer working with Russians in the name of postwar cooperation, or a former SS officer returning to Germany and eventually following his mission across Europe to South America. As Kidney writes in one scene where Brown/Zellner excuses himself to take a phone call, “When Zelly hung up, he took a couple of minutes to compose himself. Fred came back to the porch.”
Chockfull of intrigue, betrayal, seduction, tension and violence, the novel is a perfect read for fans of espionage, high-stake politics and history, or the works of John le Carré and Graham Greene. The author notes at the end that he envisions four more books in this series. Fans can hardly wait.
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