Operation Blackbird

A Cold War Spy Novel

By: Ellen Butler

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Her mission could tip the balance of power . . . or spark World War III.

October, 1952. The war is over, but for CIA officer Miriam Becker, memories of the horrors she witnessed remain jagged in her mind. While vacationing in Argentina, recovering from a mission that nearly killed her, she's seeing more ghosts from the past than the sights.

When a longtime family friend and fellow operative, Jake Devlin, tracks her down, Miriam is forced to push everything to the back of her mind for the next mission: help a highly prized and heavily guarded rocket scientist defect from Soviet-controlled East Berlin—right out from under the KGB's nose.

Well aware that one wrong move could spark World War III, Miriam, Jake, and the team plan their strategy to the last detail. But when a betrayal brings everything crashing down, Jake's quick thinking creates the diversion to get Miriam out alive—but leaves him trapped behind the Iron Curtain.

Unsure of whom she can trust, Miriam must complete the mission by relying on contacts outside of the agency, even though her heart longs to return to East Berlin to rescue the man who is the last link to her to her troubled past . . . before the KGB gets to him first.

©2022 Ellen Butler (P)2023 Tantor

Good story; mediocre narration

I love cold war stories and this one was entertaining. However, the narrator's voice sounds like an elderly grandmother. Perhaps that would be apt if the heroine was elderly. But she's not. She's in her 30s. Maybe im nitpicking but for me this was distracting. If you are open to reading the book, that's what I would recommend.