A dark and complex tale of spies, lies and choices made.

"The Borodino Sacrifice" opens in a forest in Czechoslovakia. It's 1945, in the chaotic days after the end of WW2, and ex-sniper Bill Bradley is observing a rendezvous between two groups. During the exchange, shots are fired, and both groups disperse. Later, Bradley is debriefed by intelligence agents who task him with tracking down the woman he encountered in the forest. She is key to a larger operation to ensure details of a rumoured atomic bomb are handed to the British and not the Russians.

Soon Bradley is up to his neck in spies, secrets and conspiracies as he navigates the maze that is the post-WW2 plan by the British, Americans and Russians to divide up Europe. It's a complex tale, with many characters and locations, interwoven with observations about the confusion and tragedy which existed in the months following the fall of Berlin. Bradley is a complex character - damaged, tired and dismayed at what he has seen. He doesn't know who to trust, suspects he is being used, and all the time just trying to do the best he can. Meanwhile representatives of the British, American, Russian and German governments have their own plans, and much of this story is about how Bradley navigates his way through these plans. It can be tricky at times keeping the various players and locations straight in your head, but very satisfying when things come together.

The book is set in eastern Europe in the months following the Nazi surrender, in Berlin, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere. In my opinion, these are the stars of the show. The author is also a poet, and his vivid descriptions are glorious. Whether it's the sounds and smells of a Czechoslovakian forest or the barren graveyard that was Berlin, or the razed ruins of Dresden, the reader is presented with a backdrop that is almost immersive.

The Soviet Union's greatest secret, codenamed BORODINO was a real thing. Stalin was desperate to get his hands on the German nuclear research centre, the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute before the Americans did. Operation Borodino was flagging and Soviet scientists wanted to find out exactly what the Germans had come up with during the war. All of this is nicely woven into Bradley's story.

I've read several novels recently, all set in post-war Germany, and all bring a slightly different view to the story of how the major powers divided up Europe. All are full of real-life events and figures, and are enjoyable fiction, but somehow "The Borodino Sacrifice" offers an extra depth in its descriptive backdrop. The dense (in places) prose may not be for the casual reader, but those who dig deep will love it.

"The Borodino Sacrifice" is the first book in a planned trilogy - The Chasing Mercury series, and I'm already chomping at the bit for book two. Highly recommended for fans of historical and espionage fiction.
C. Paulin51

Paul Phillips’s The Borodino Sacrifice is a must-read for fans of espionage or historical fiction—or anyone who simply enjoys great prose.

Masterfully written, the novel hurls the reader on a tense journey through war-ravaged Central Europe. Though told from multiple points of view—from Czechoslovakian resistance fighters to Soviet officers—the story is mostly told through Sam, an American GI with a dark past, and Mila, a British agent gone rogue. The reader is soon immersed in the danger and despair of post-war France, Germany, and Czechoslovakia as the characters navigate the geopolitical intrigues and double-crosses of wartime allies shifting into post-war adversaries.

I’m not sure if I enjoyed novel more as an avid reader or as a historian. The writing is exceptional throughout with not a single dull or lazy sentence. The descriptions are snappy, vivid, and/or evocative.

Bradley thought of the map of Europe as it had been redrawn at Yalta and Potsdam. The chalk-marks round the corpse.

Or witty:

She was frogmarched into the lounge between Frau Kaindl and one of the SS ‘wives’, a hatchet-faced peroxide blonde known, for some ponderous reason, as Olga.

I’m not sure I took a breath as I read the hand-to-hand combat scene in the penultimate chapter. The sequence was superbly written, delivering great tension, and I felt the characters’ desperation and exhaustion as they fought for their lives.

The narrative is seasoned with rich dialogue that makes great use of contemporary slang and manners of speech that vary smoothly between nationalities. I especially enjoyed the authentic locution of the Russian-speaking characters.

As a historian, I appreciated how the novel—perhaps more than any other comparable work of fiction—transported me to that turbulent period of European history (the fetid stench of a flattened Berlin, the wretchedness of the Sudeten Germans). For most people, VE-Day conjures images of ticker tape parades or King George waving from Buckingham Palace. But that day in May was hardly the end of the suffering in Europe, and the novel sheds light on the ensuing violence—the gendered violence in particular. Meticulously researched, historical details are nicely woven into both the settings and plot, giving the story a high degree of authenticity without ever slowing the narrative’s pace. We’re not simply told about UNRRA or the Soviet transit camps or Patton’s impetuousness or the Dachau reprisals or the British elections; they are all used to drive the plot and/or give depths to the character’s motivations.

In short, I loved Paul Phillips’s The Borodino Sacrifice, and I very much look forward to reading its sequel.

Edited to add: I was provided with an ARC in return for an honest review.favorites fiction history ...more Jan MiklaszewiczAuthor 12 books23

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