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2 A.M.: The Cold War Returns
Not yet published
Expected 15 Jan 26
The Cold War never died. It just evolved.
2 A.M. opens the Flying Dutchman timeline at street level — and climbs fast to the air tasking order. Former U.S. Army tank commander Steve Johnson is dragged into a deniable web that does not officially The Flying Dutchman, a network forged during the Cold War’s slow rebirth, invisible to nations and answerable only to necessity.
A rogue Russian general awakens a kill-network the Soviets were never meant to leave behind, and the board flips before anyone admits a war exists. Maskirovka feints north while the real pressure speeds west through occupied Ukraine toward Moldova — a move designed to fracture NATO faster than it can brief. Washington hesitates. Brussels debates. The clock doesn’t.
Johnson’s first call is to his old commander, General Collier, now charged with holding a line using only a fraction of allied strength and a mandate to make each decision count. Collier fights the war from 40,000 feet — not as a ground officer is taught to, but as a 21st-century combined-arms commander, orchestrating ISR and air power in real time, trading optics for outcomes. In the fiber below, Cypher hunts and hardens — a quiet savant probing an “impenetrable” Russian signals web, mapping cut-outs, tracing dead channels, and burying backdoors while diplomats argue definitions.
At Johnson’s side is Colonel Anya Kuznetsova (GRU) — a woman with enemies on both sides and loyalties that don’t read clean. Every move through Lviv, the shadow districts around Kyiv, and the Black Sea theater forces a trust the asset, or keep your hand on the wheel. Nations burn. Channels go silent. Partners blink. And somewhere between yesterday’s life and the next war, a rebuilt 1971 GTO eats the miles — restored for speed and control, now used to escape.
What begins as surveillance and interdiction becomes a knife-fight inside policy. The “quiet war” turns kinetic only when it must — and exacts a cost every time it does. The Flying Dutchman network takes shape in the dark between warfighters, enigmas, and exiles bound by one rule — some lines still matter more than flags.
Expect disciplined tradecraft over gadget worship, military intelligence under stress, shadow ops colliding with open steel, and consequences that don’t fit on a briefing slide. This is Tom Clancy–style realism updated to the world we live NATO vs Russia pressure points, Ukraine war thriller stakes, and a covert war novel architecture built from gray-zone moves, deniable assets, and hard choices. If Cold War fiction, espionage military novels, and unforgiving geopolitics sit on your shelf, this series belongs beside them.
For fans of Nelson Demille, Jason Matthews, Robert Ludlum, and Harold Coyle, this espionage military novel series blends Ukraine war thrillers, Cold War fiction, and NATO vs Russia conflict realism with fast-paced storytelling and unforgiving stakes.
Inside 2 A.M. you’ll find
A deniable network that moves where treaties blur and uniforms don’t matter.
Collier commanding the air and intelligence stack — strategy at 40,000 feet with ground-truth consequences.
Cypher’s code-level infiltration and counter-intrusion against near-peer SIGINT defenses.
Anya’s double-edged presence — asset, adversary, or both — and Steve’s cost to find out.
A running engagement across Ukraine and Moldova’s seam, where timing beats firepower.
2 A.M. opens the Flying Dutchman timeline at street level — and climbs fast to the air tasking order. Former U.S. Army tank commander Steve Johnson is dragged into a deniable web that does not officially The Flying Dutchman, a network forged during the Cold War’s slow rebirth, invisible to nations and answerable only to necessity.
A rogue Russian general awakens a kill-network the Soviets were never meant to leave behind, and the board flips before anyone admits a war exists. Maskirovka feints north while the real pressure speeds west through occupied Ukraine toward Moldova — a move designed to fracture NATO faster than it can brief. Washington hesitates. Brussels debates. The clock doesn’t.
Johnson’s first call is to his old commander, General Collier, now charged with holding a line using only a fraction of allied strength and a mandate to make each decision count. Collier fights the war from 40,000 feet — not as a ground officer is taught to, but as a 21st-century combined-arms commander, orchestrating ISR and air power in real time, trading optics for outcomes. In the fiber below, Cypher hunts and hardens — a quiet savant probing an “impenetrable” Russian signals web, mapping cut-outs, tracing dead channels, and burying backdoors while diplomats argue definitions.
At Johnson’s side is Colonel Anya Kuznetsova (GRU) — a woman with enemies on both sides and loyalties that don’t read clean. Every move through Lviv, the shadow districts around Kyiv, and the Black Sea theater forces a trust the asset, or keep your hand on the wheel. Nations burn. Channels go silent. Partners blink. And somewhere between yesterday’s life and the next war, a rebuilt 1971 GTO eats the miles — restored for speed and control, now used to escape.
What begins as surveillance and interdiction becomes a knife-fight inside policy. The “quiet war” turns kinetic only when it must — and exacts a cost every time it does. The Flying Dutchman network takes shape in the dark between warfighters, enigmas, and exiles bound by one rule — some lines still matter more than flags.
Expect disciplined tradecraft over gadget worship, military intelligence under stress, shadow ops colliding with open steel, and consequences that don’t fit on a briefing slide. This is Tom Clancy–style realism updated to the world we live NATO vs Russia pressure points, Ukraine war thriller stakes, and a covert war novel architecture built from gray-zone moves, deniable assets, and hard choices. If Cold War fiction, espionage military novels, and unforgiving geopolitics sit on your shelf, this series belongs beside them.
For fans of Nelson Demille, Jason Matthews, Robert Ludlum, and Harold Coyle, this espionage military novel series blends Ukraine war thrillers, Cold War fiction, and NATO vs Russia conflict realism with fast-paced storytelling and unforgiving stakes.
Inside 2 A.M. you’ll find
A deniable network that moves where treaties blur and uniforms don’t matter.
Collier commanding the air and intelligence stack — strategy at 40,000 feet with ground-truth consequences.
Cypher’s code-level infiltration and counter-intrusion against near-peer SIGINT defenses.
Anya’s double-edged presence — asset, adversary, or both — and Steve’s cost to find out.
A running engagement across Ukraine and Moldova’s seam, where timing beats firepower.
517 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication January 15, 2026
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Review of advance copy received from Storygraph
Mark Wilder’s 2 A.M. is a slow burn of a novel, one that takes its time unfolding, sometimes to a fault, but ultimately rewards readers who stick with it. The pacing can feel painstakingly deliberate, and much of the prose reads like an issue of Car and Driver. The level of detail devoted to each vehicle is astonishing—if you’re an auto enthusiast, you’ll probably love it; if not, it might start to feel like a slog.And yes, we get it, he has a GTO. Wilder reminds readers so often that it becomes almost a character in its own right (though perhaps an overbearing one). Still, beneath all the chrome and engine talk lies a genuinely great story. When the emotional beats finally hit, they do so with real weight and authenticity.This isn’t a fast read, and it demands patience, but it’s also crafted with clear passion and detail. If you can weather the gearhead level descriptions, 2 A.M. has a satisfying heart ticking beneath the hood.
Displaying 1 of 1 review