Blue Masquerade

Iron Crucible, Book 1

By: T.K. Blackwood

Narrated by: Kyle Tait

The year is 1992. Over twenty years have passed since Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev was assassinated by a crazed gunman. Since that time, the Soviet Union has been put on a course toward economic success—and war.

In the Balkans, Yugoslavia's collapse into ethnic violence draws NATO and the Warsaw Pact to the brink of Armageddon. Armies deploy and fleets maneuver. Political intrigue engulfs Moscow and Washington, and paranoia radiates from the Iron Curtain. In the zero-sum game of Cold War, neither side can afford to blink or back down.

A conflict nearly fifty years in the making spills from boardrooms and back alleys and explodes into open battle on land, air, and sea. The showdown of the century is here: East versus West with the future of mankind at stake.

©2022 T.K. Blackwood (P)2024 Tantor

the awful accented Transylvanian English

Please don't act and inflect Just read the story.Leave the imagination to the listener PLEASE!

Refreshing take on WW3

A well paced and well plotted book. It's nice to see a change in the whole 'Red blunders, Blue wins' scenario. And good to see the realistic side of what would have happened anyway looming over the horizon for the FSFR regardless of economic reforms being done. Narrator paces well, but doesn't know how to do a British accent nor how to pronounce 'in situ' however does a good enough job outside of this.

No Tom Clancy

But it was ok. At this point I am not sure if I will listen to the rest of the series.

Way Too Tedious

The poetic nature of the writing/descriptions make it more tedious than interesting. Being descriptive is fine, but ALL the poetry is unnecessary.

If you can ignore parts of reality and common sense, its okay…

1) love the subject matter. Kudos to the author for finding a realistic political scenario around which to base the book.
2) The American units seem to be chronically underpowered and do not appear to rely on available tech (helicopters, anyone?)
3) The American President and the KGB chief are caricatures;
4) Kilo-class submarines are not nearly as quiet as the author would have you believe. In addition, if a carrier group was ordered to the Adriatic, at bate minimum that task force would include multiple submarines to detect and eliminate enemy subs. There is simply no way that a carrier group would be so defenseless.
5) I liked the Spetznaz raid… that was done fairly well.