David Gurr’s historical military spy thriller, rooted in biblical prophecy and portents of Armageddon, follows a handful of characters trying to comprehend a world under “the Nuclear Sword of Damocles” as they encounter an extraordinary event with religious overtones.

Set in the Cold War of the early 1980s, the story begins in Kiev as a member of Soviet State Security—dubbed the Shadowman—waits outside a church for a foreign suspect to emerge. When the man appears, “superstitious old women are physically preventing his departure by falling to their knees and grasping at his clothes.” The Shadowman is overcome by the man’s presence; his eyes—those of a poet—“remind him of the history of his Ukraine, of his true duty.”

Also in Kiev, Nobel Prize winner Antonin Varasylov, close to curing cancer, is under Soviet house arrest, waiting to be taken to the camps. Instead, he and his wife are flown to Paris and subsequently seek asylum in the U.S. When interviewed by a U.S. authority, he credits his unexpected luck to the Shadowman’s Foreigner.

The interviewer, known as the Coordinator, is another secretive figure whose sole purpose is to monitor Soviet intelligence and the country’s nuclear program.

Meanwhile, both Soviet and American military leaders investigate a near-impossible security breach in their respective nuclear facilities, accomplished not by force but by the persuasive presence of a single mystical figure.

Gurr develops his dynamic, distinctive characters through vigorous dialogue and rich interiority. Through their actions–such as aging news anchor Pete Mathias drinking “to drown the realization of his own cliché”— the author powerfully critiques society, the news media, the military industrial complex, and more. The author began the novel 45 years ago; thus, characters display sexism and homophobia consistent with the era, encapsulating the machismo of the time.

Indeed, this fast-paced, immersive thriller ably captures the period with immediacy and tension while simultaneously mining deeper philosophical themes.

Also available as an ebook.