I've always had a fascination with the war that never was, a.k.a. a World War Three devolving out of the Cold War. There's just something indelibly interesting about the mighty conflict between the two main competing philosophies of the twentieth century...and something equally disappointing and anti-climactic that it just fizzled away. I'm not stating that I wanted World War Three...but as a student of history, it seemed like the conflict was inevitable. I also must admit to myself that my own

I've always had a fascination with the war that never was, a.k.a. a World War Three devolving out of the Cold War. There's just something indelibly interesting about the mighty conflict between the two main competing philosophies of the twentieth century...and something equally disappointing and anti-climactic that it just fizzled away. I'm not stating that I wanted World War Three...but as a student of history, it seemed like the conflict was inevitable. I also must admit to myself that my own personal political philosophy plays a large part in my interest.



And thus, we arrive at this novel. It's the late 1980s and the Soviet Union/the Warsaw Pact goes to war with NATO. There is not much preamble; the novel starts with the war, and ends with the war. Near the end of the story, we get a hint at the reason for the war, which is pretty standard fare for the time (spoiler: it was "inevitable" based on economics).



The characters in this novel are all soldiers of various ranks, are all Soviets, and are all involved in the war. There is no time spent "back home"...no time with the leaders on either side...no time with the other side (NATO). With a laser-like focus we meet our characters and never stray far from them. And, spoiler, almost all of them are killed...it is a war after all. Details on equipment are kept purposely vague, I suspect. There is no mention of vehicle designations, weapons used, or technical minutia. It may be that the author was attempting to keep this story timeless, so that it could be read at any time and seem time-appropriate - suspecting that the author, like so many others, did not envision the collapse of the Soviet Union shortly after this book was published.



I did find many of the characters to be somewhat one-dimensional, which could have been intentional to keep the focus on the events of the story...but, since the battles are so lacking in technical details, and we are never really given the "god's eye" strategic view of what's going on worldwide due to the aforementioned laser focus upon our cast, it seems to be only natural that we should have been given more insight into them. I would have enjoyed learning more about them, other than a single character trait, so that when they (spoiler) reached their demise, I actually cared.



I will say, however, that what sets this story apart from nearly every other one I've read in this niche genre is that (spoiler) the Soviets win. Not wanting to see their nation turned into a nuclear wasteland, the West Germans capitulate. I was so utterly taken aback by this outcome that I feel it must be mentioned. Every other novel, game, show, movie, etc., that I have experienced in this genre has seen the Soviet Union lose generally due to internal strife, conflict, and/or resource depletion. Here, however, they pull out a victory. I was impressed that the author went that route...and am sure that the possible popularity of this book suffered as a result.



If you share my love of hypothetical Third World War scenarios, and consider yourself something of a Russophile/Soviet-o-phile (?), I would definitely recommend it.