A Lie in Blood

The most interesting novels about Stalin’s special forces—SMERSH. SMERSH captain Dmitry Yurkin, while filtering Soviet prisoners of war released from a concentration camp, noticed one of the former captives, Red Army soldier Pavel Zakharov. The fighter had a typical cover story: he ended up with the Germans unconscious, had no contacts with the Abwehr, stayed quiet in the camp, and didn’t interfere in anything… Exactly this “unremarkable” behavior interested the captain. What if such behavior is part of a secret plan, and the prisoner himself isn’t who he claims to be… Yurkin decides to approach Zakharov in a special way and unexpectedly receives such revelations that the operative feels uneasy…

“Death to the spies!” (SMERSH) was the harsh, short name of a special NKVD unit subordinate to I. Stalin. Created during the war, it consisted of officers of the Red Army—tested in combat, honest, and fearless. SMERSH feared everyone: both fascist scouts preparing sabotage in our combat formations, and Hitler’s accomplices operating deep in the Soviet rear. The enemy knew that if Stalin’s special forces had been put on his trail, a fair and swift judgment was unavoidable.

The novels of the SMERSH series—Stalin’s special forces—are always a thrilling, dynamic plot and new historical knowledge. This is action written in a simple and understandable language. Total print run of A. Tamonikov’s books—over 10 million copies!

— “A. Tamonikov’s novels are about real men, for whom the concepts of valor, honor, and duty aren’t empty words.” — V. Kolychev