📖 Novel of the Week: Rasputin's Legacy by Lee Jackson

His Code Name Is Atcho, a Cuban-born West Point graduate. He is the only covert operative on earth to be trusted by both the President of the United States and the Premier of the Soviet Union. A chance meeting of Rasputin, a mysterious monk with the daughters of the last Czar deep in the forests of Russia sets in motion cataclysmic events that surface 70 years later. Atcho finds himself battling a mysterious religious sect, the KGB, the Soviet military, and the Communist Party to save the National Power that had kept him imprisoned for more than 19 years – and he must do it without help or assistance from US intelligence resources. Failure would result in placing the full nuclear capabilities and military might of the Soviet Union into the hands of a madman bent on world domination.

Review

If you have been following my books reviews for a while, then you'll be very aware how much I love stories set in Russia, in the post-tsar era. So it shouldn't be a suprise when I say that I really liked this novel, even if it's set in 1988. The protagonist, Atcho Xiquez is a resourceful person, with a profound sense of duty towards the country that helped him and his daughter to escape from Cuba. The story spreads from Washington D.C., to Paris, Romania and finally Russia, to prevent Borya Yermolov's coup to take power over the URSS and to make the Cold War hotter than ever. Yermolov is Rasputin's descendent and so he managed to get money and help from a sect of his loyalists in order to make his plan a success.
This novel is filled with suspance, plot twists and remorseless characters, whom are ready to do anything to reach their goals.
If you like Cold War thrillers, this is a must read; thanks to the flowing writing style and the vivid descriptions, you'll find yourself in Paris, chasing a Rasputin sect, or in the snowy Novosibirsk, trying to stop the only person who would love to start another World War...
The characters are interesting, with particular backgrounds and it's a gender equality novel, since Atcho's fiancée, Sofia, isn't just a secondary character, but a woman who knows what she wants and how to get it.
To sum it up, if you want action, conspiracies, half globe travels and a life threatening mission, with very low chances of success, well...Rasputin's Legacy is what you need to read!

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"Pure Gold!" CarmineZozzora, Producer of Die Hard with a Vengeance and Color of Night.

"Espionage, subterfuge ... absolutely stunning...." Midwest Book Review.

"Wow!. A must read." Joe Galloway, NYT Bestselling Author of We Were Soldiers Once...and Young (adapted to a Mel Gibson movie) and We Are Soldiers Still.

"Riveting! Thrilling ..." Kris"Tanto" Paronto, Hero of Benghazi, Bestselling Author of The Ranger Way.

"With this page-turning thriller, Lee connects the brooding mystic Rasputinto the Cold War, traces his dark influence into the present, and makesit relevant to today's churning world events. Stunning!" Bill Thompson, Editor of Stephen King's Carrie and John Grisham's The Firm.

"Clearly one of the best books of historical fiction I have ever read. Extremely entertaining and educational at the same time." Lieutenant-General RickLynch (Retired), former Commanding General, 3rd Infantry Division during the Surge in Iraq.

Also Available in the Cold War Series

Curse The Moon
Lee Jackson Brings Heat To The Cold War.

His code-name is Atcho. He leads guerrilla fighters through the US-supported insurgency that rages at the Bay of Pigs in the early days of Fidel Castro’s Cuba. Captured and cast into the island’s worst dungeons, Atcho learns that a phantom-like officer of the Soviet KGB shadows him. Inexplicably released from incarceration and still dedicated to his country, he battles through the bowels of the Kremlin in Moscow, into the granite halls at West Point, and finally to highest levels in Washington, DC. Atcho’s rise opens doors into US National Defense even as the seemingly omniscient KGB officer holds unflinching sway over his actions. His public life clashes with secrets that only he and his tormentor share, isolating him in a world of intrigue among people whom he is determined not to betray – and then he finds that he is the trigger that could spark thermonuclear war.

Buy the Book....

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"Splendid! A page-turner." Joe Galloway, NYT Best Selling Author..

“Atcho is at his best…when taking names and kicking ass. Highly enjoyable…” ~ Kirkus Reviews

"Curse the Moon has it all, packaging its tense thriller in the cloak of understanding motivations both political and personal. It's all about danger, sacrifice, and how even would-be romance bows to the pressure of a covert operator's obligations." D. Donovan, eBook Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

THE STORY BEHIND THIS BOOK

“There is much in “Curse The Moon” that is based on real events, and two of the primary characters, Atcho and his daughter, Isabel, were actually based on my father-in-law and my wife. In fact, the code-name “Atcho” is my father-in-law’s real nickname. He fought in the counterrevolution against Castro, was imprisoned after the Bay of Pigs, and spent 17 years in some of Castro’s worst prisons. In the book, he is a composite character. Some of the fictional Atcho’s expoits were the real Atcho’s, and some were accomplished by others in the resistance. The real aspects in the book are the abject cruelty that the Castro regime imposed, and the intrepidity and courage that Cuban patriots exhibited in resisting him.

The other very real aspect was the relationship between both the real and fictional Atchos and their fictional and real respective daughters. Both grew up with their fathers having been stripped from their homes and country, and witnessed much of the savagery as little girls. That stayed with my wife such that, although on a cognitive basis she understood and was even proud of the courage of her father, on a deeper level, she suffered from his absence and felt a sense of having been abandoned – other men escaped Cuba with their families intact.

My initial motivation for writing the book was as a tribute to the real Atcho and my wife. In researching it, I found a story with all the elements of a thriller, and one that should be told: a near holocaust took place 90 miles south of Florida, and most Americans know nothing about it. Further, because of its strategic location just off the US coast, Cuba occupied an outsized place in the Cold War competition between the US and the Soviet Union. This story takes the Cuban revolution as its launching point, and then delves into the strained and often subtle relations between the two superpowers in the waining days of the Cold War. It questions the actions of John Kennedy, brings alive the charm, sternness, and personality of Ronald Reagan, and views Mikhail Gorbachev with curiosity.” ~ Lee Jackson

About the author

Lee Jackson is a bestselling, award-winning thriller author. He was an Infantry officer with a front row seat on world affairs, and spent 38 months in Iraq and Afghanistan. His first book, Curse The Moon, was published in 5 countries, and follows Atcho, a counter-revolutionary leader in Cuba turned unwilling spy in the U.S. The odds he faces seem overwhelming as he must choose between saving the world from nuclear holocaust - or his daughter. In Lee’s second book, Rasputin's Legacy, Atcho faces a surreal challenge: he must save the country that enslaved his own, or deliver control of the Soviet nuclear apparatus into the hands of a maniac. Can he set aside his personal desire for revenge? Lee lives with his wife in Texas, and is a full time writer.