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The Able Archers: A Cold War Spy Thriller
** Winner of 16th Annual National Indie Excellence Award for Best Military Fiction, Finalist in the 16th Annual National Indie Excellence Award for Best Historical Fiction and a Finalist the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Historical Fiction **
In 1983, the world stands at the brink of nuclear annihilation, and only a few people are aware of it. A riveting story of how two men's lives intersect in the midst of an existential crisis, The Able Archers is told through the eyes of two key a young American intelligence officer, Captain Kevin Cattani; and his more experienced Soviet counterpart, Colonel Ivan Levchenko. The story plays out from the skies over Siberia to the gritty, dangerous streets of East Berlin. The radically different worldviews of Cattani and Levchenko punctuate the deep divisions of the Cold War. The evolving relationship between the two men also highlights the humanity common to both sides. Only by working together will Cattani and Levchenko find a way to prevent a global nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union.
In 1983, the world stands at the brink of nuclear annihilation, and only a few people are aware of it. A riveting story of how two men's lives intersect in the midst of an existential crisis, The Able Archers is told through the eyes of two key a young American intelligence officer, Captain Kevin Cattani; and his more experienced Soviet counterpart, Colonel Ivan Levchenko. The story plays out from the skies over Siberia to the gritty, dangerous streets of East Berlin. The radically different worldviews of Cattani and Levchenko punctuate the deep divisions of the Cold War. The evolving relationship between the two men also highlights the humanity common to both sides. Only by working together will Cattani and Levchenko find a way to prevent a global nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union.
330 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 22, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
September 16, 2022
This is an excellent - and frankly, untold story - about averting the end of our world. Although this is 'fiction' it is based on real events and real people. For those old enough to remember, the Soviet Union shot down a 747 - flight 007 - in 1983. This is the backstory of everything - and everyone involved in that incident. While President Ronald Reagan was pressing Mikhail Gorbachev on the one hand, the Soviets felt very much that the west was about to execute a nuclear attack. Most of us were not and are not aware, we were moments away from a nuclear holocaust.
This book is definitely worth the read and will bring a bit of reality to the dangerous world we inhabit today. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed in 1983. Pray they continue to prevail.
This book is definitely worth the read and will bring a bit of reality to the dangerous world we inhabit today. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed in 1983. Pray they continue to prevail.
March 19, 2023
Given the unfolding tragedies in the world at present; specifically the horrible events inflicted upon the people of Ukraine, this book is a must read to remind us all of the fate which awaits us if we fail to recognize the chain of events that will unfold if misunderstanding and misrepresentation is not avoided.
This book is a somewhat fictitious account of real events which have long fascinated me in a terrifying way. While the main characters in this book are fictitious, the events happened without our knowledge and brought us to the brink of annihilation in the fall of my 18th year.
To understand what exactly took place, one needs to understand the basic events that took place in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1930s, Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression packed. This is generally known. What is less generally known is, while the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, Hitler and Stalin agreed to divide the spoils and the Soviets retained the eastern half of Poland until early 1941 when the Wehrmacht began to assemble a massive army on the Soviet border. Hitler assured Stalin that it was a military exercise until May 1941 when the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa and began a massive invasion of Russia violating the non-aggression pact and dragging the USSR into World War II.
World War II saw the deaths of nearly 60 million people worldwide. One third of those deaths were suffered by Russia, more than any other single nation. Fast-forward 42 years to the height of the cold war. The Kremlin is run by old men who were young men during the Nazi invasion in 1941 and they survived the most violent war in human history on the bloodiest battlefields in that conflict. They are old, their health is failing, and their paranoia is running rampant. On the other side of the world, US President Ronald Reagan seems committed to confrontation with the USSR and, in their heightened state of paranoia, those old men in the Kremlin are convinced Reagan plans to launch a nuclear operation Barbarossa as a preemptive first strike against the USSR.
March 1983, Reagan makes a public address in which he refers to the Soviets as the “Evil Empire”.
April 1983, the US Pacific Fleet conducts a massive military exercise in the Sea of Okhotsk during which time US fighter aircraft overfly Soviet air defense bases. Due to a lack of response to this infraction of their airspace, many of the Soviet leaders in their far eastern air defense forces are relieved and recalled. Their replacements, determined not to suffer a similar fate, place all air defense forces in the far east on high alert, flying round the clock sorties to ensure any US spy aircraft are warned off or shot down should they violate Soviet airspace.
September 1983, after several months of maintaining high alert, Soviet pilots, air ground crews, and equipment are suffering from the deleterious effects of round the clock missions and alert status. In the early morning hours of September 1st, an aircraft thought to be a US intelligence gathering aircraft violates Soviet airspace near the Kamchatka peninsula. It was in fact a Korean Airlines flight from Anchorage on it’s way to Seoul designated KAL-007. The pilots had made a grave navigational error when they violated restricted Soviet airspace. Convinced it was an American spy plane, the Far East Air Defense scrambled two Su-15 fighter interceptors which found and shot down KAL-007 near Sakhalin Island after failing to make contact with the airliner’s pilots. All 269 people on board perished.
In the days that followed the KAL shoot down, US Air Force intelligence determined it was an accident caused by malfunctioning radar, fatigue from the months of high alert, and confusion on the part of the Soviet air Defense Forces. This knowledge did not prevent the Reagan administration from running with the narrative that it was a purposeful act of barbarism conducted by the Kremlin leadership and putting the two nations on war footing.
Late September 1983, just three weeks after the KAL incident, Soviet satellites watching ICBM facilities over North America detected a launch of nuclear weapons from an ICBM site in North Dakota. A flaw in the satellite software confused sunlight reflection off an unusual high-altitude cloud formation for missile launches. As fate would have it, Stanislov Petrov, one of the architects of the satellite early warning system happened to be on duty that night. Believing the warning to be a false alarm he violated protocol and failed to inform the senior leadership who would have almost certainly launched a very real counter strike precipitation a full scale nuclear war.
Even though his actions saved the world from catastrophe and exposed a flaw in the Soviet’s early warning detection system, Petrov was censured by his government. It would be more than a decade before the world would know what happened on that night and in 2004 Petrov was awarded the World Citizen Award in San Francisco. In 2013, he was awarded the Dresden Peace Prize in Dresden, Germany.
Early November 1983, NATO forces were about to conduct the annual Operation Able Archer exercise in Europe. It’s an exercise to practice and evaluate the performance of NATO forces response to the outbreak of war in Western Europe. It begins with ground forces movements and culminates with a simulated release of nuclear weapons. The Soviets are well aware of this exercise and usually kept informed as to what is happening so that there is no confusion about the exercise not being an actual attack. In 1983, several key factors have changed which sends the already paranoid Kremlin leadership into a frenzy:
• The Soviet’s deployment of SS-20 nuclear missile launchers in Eastern Europe has prompted the US and its NATO allies to deploy Pershing missiles in Western Europe in response, ratcheting tensions between the two superpowers.
• Since the shoot down of KAL 007 and subsequent demonizing of the Kremlin by western powers, US and Soviet leadership has stopped communicating with each other.
• For the first time in Able Archer history, the exercise will include the launch of B-52 strategic nuclear bombers.
• For the first time in Able Archer exercise history, National Command Authority, Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher will participate in the final stage of the exercise which involves the practiced release of nuclear weapons. This fact only servers to further incite the Soviet leaderships fervor that the US is planning a nuclear Barbarossa and they place their nuclear forces on high alert as a result. The Soviets now have their finger on the trigger and are awaiting Reagan to give the order to release the nuclear weapons. The west has no idea that is happening.
In the end, though the situation came close to disaster more than once, intelligence officers from both the Soviet forces and US military who were still talking to each other managed to deescalate the situation by convincing Reagan and Thatcher not to participate, withdrawing the B-52s from the exercise, and convincing the Kremlin leadership to stand down from their nuclear alert posture.
President Reagan was genuinely surprised at the level of tension in the Kremlin at that time and changed his stance on the building and deployment of nuclear weapons, instead dedicating his second term to deescalating tensions and nuclear stockpiles between the two superpowers. Soviet President Andropov would die a few month later and his predecessor a year after that. Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet president in 1985 and reopened communication with Washington then worked diligently with President Reagan to scale back nuclear arsenals and deescalate tensions with the west.
In Brian Mora’s book some of the fictitious characters were real people given fictitious names and some of the more fictitious characters in the book I suspect were based on real people. He also concludes the book with names of the actual participants and an actual timeline of the real events in the appendix.
While we can enjoy this book for its entertainment value, we should also take it as a serious warning to change the path we currently find ourselves on, both here in the US and to our allies abroad because one miscalculation could mean our very last miscalculation.
This book is a somewhat fictitious account of real events which have long fascinated me in a terrifying way. While the main characters in this book are fictitious, the events happened without our knowledge and brought us to the brink of annihilation in the fall of my 18th year.
To understand what exactly took place, one needs to understand the basic events that took place in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1930s, Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression packed. This is generally known. What is less generally known is, while the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, Hitler and Stalin agreed to divide the spoils and the Soviets retained the eastern half of Poland until early 1941 when the Wehrmacht began to assemble a massive army on the Soviet border. Hitler assured Stalin that it was a military exercise until May 1941 when the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa and began a massive invasion of Russia violating the non-aggression pact and dragging the USSR into World War II.
World War II saw the deaths of nearly 60 million people worldwide. One third of those deaths were suffered by Russia, more than any other single nation. Fast-forward 42 years to the height of the cold war. The Kremlin is run by old men who were young men during the Nazi invasion in 1941 and they survived the most violent war in human history on the bloodiest battlefields in that conflict. They are old, their health is failing, and their paranoia is running rampant. On the other side of the world, US President Ronald Reagan seems committed to confrontation with the USSR and, in their heightened state of paranoia, those old men in the Kremlin are convinced Reagan plans to launch a nuclear operation Barbarossa as a preemptive first strike against the USSR.
March 1983, Reagan makes a public address in which he refers to the Soviets as the “Evil Empire”.
April 1983, the US Pacific Fleet conducts a massive military exercise in the Sea of Okhotsk during which time US fighter aircraft overfly Soviet air defense bases. Due to a lack of response to this infraction of their airspace, many of the Soviet leaders in their far eastern air defense forces are relieved and recalled. Their replacements, determined not to suffer a similar fate, place all air defense forces in the far east on high alert, flying round the clock sorties to ensure any US spy aircraft are warned off or shot down should they violate Soviet airspace.
September 1983, after several months of maintaining high alert, Soviet pilots, air ground crews, and equipment are suffering from the deleterious effects of round the clock missions and alert status. In the early morning hours of September 1st, an aircraft thought to be a US intelligence gathering aircraft violates Soviet airspace near the Kamchatka peninsula. It was in fact a Korean Airlines flight from Anchorage on it’s way to Seoul designated KAL-007. The pilots had made a grave navigational error when they violated restricted Soviet airspace. Convinced it was an American spy plane, the Far East Air Defense scrambled two Su-15 fighter interceptors which found and shot down KAL-007 near Sakhalin Island after failing to make contact with the airliner’s pilots. All 269 people on board perished.
In the days that followed the KAL shoot down, US Air Force intelligence determined it was an accident caused by malfunctioning radar, fatigue from the months of high alert, and confusion on the part of the Soviet air Defense Forces. This knowledge did not prevent the Reagan administration from running with the narrative that it was a purposeful act of barbarism conducted by the Kremlin leadership and putting the two nations on war footing.
Late September 1983, just three weeks after the KAL incident, Soviet satellites watching ICBM facilities over North America detected a launch of nuclear weapons from an ICBM site in North Dakota. A flaw in the satellite software confused sunlight reflection off an unusual high-altitude cloud formation for missile launches. As fate would have it, Stanislov Petrov, one of the architects of the satellite early warning system happened to be on duty that night. Believing the warning to be a false alarm he violated protocol and failed to inform the senior leadership who would have almost certainly launched a very real counter strike precipitation a full scale nuclear war.
Even though his actions saved the world from catastrophe and exposed a flaw in the Soviet’s early warning detection system, Petrov was censured by his government. It would be more than a decade before the world would know what happened on that night and in 2004 Petrov was awarded the World Citizen Award in San Francisco. In 2013, he was awarded the Dresden Peace Prize in Dresden, Germany.
Early November 1983, NATO forces were about to conduct the annual Operation Able Archer exercise in Europe. It’s an exercise to practice and evaluate the performance of NATO forces response to the outbreak of war in Western Europe. It begins with ground forces movements and culminates with a simulated release of nuclear weapons. The Soviets are well aware of this exercise and usually kept informed as to what is happening so that there is no confusion about the exercise not being an actual attack. In 1983, several key factors have changed which sends the already paranoid Kremlin leadership into a frenzy:
• The Soviet’s deployment of SS-20 nuclear missile launchers in Eastern Europe has prompted the US and its NATO allies to deploy Pershing missiles in Western Europe in response, ratcheting tensions between the two superpowers.
• Since the shoot down of KAL 007 and subsequent demonizing of the Kremlin by western powers, US and Soviet leadership has stopped communicating with each other.
• For the first time in Able Archer history, the exercise will include the launch of B-52 strategic nuclear bombers.
• For the first time in Able Archer exercise history, National Command Authority, Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher will participate in the final stage of the exercise which involves the practiced release of nuclear weapons. This fact only servers to further incite the Soviet leaderships fervor that the US is planning a nuclear Barbarossa and they place their nuclear forces on high alert as a result. The Soviets now have their finger on the trigger and are awaiting Reagan to give the order to release the nuclear weapons. The west has no idea that is happening.
In the end, though the situation came close to disaster more than once, intelligence officers from both the Soviet forces and US military who were still talking to each other managed to deescalate the situation by convincing Reagan and Thatcher not to participate, withdrawing the B-52s from the exercise, and convincing the Kremlin leadership to stand down from their nuclear alert posture.
President Reagan was genuinely surprised at the level of tension in the Kremlin at that time and changed his stance on the building and deployment of nuclear weapons, instead dedicating his second term to deescalating tensions and nuclear stockpiles between the two superpowers. Soviet President Andropov would die a few month later and his predecessor a year after that. Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet president in 1985 and reopened communication with Washington then worked diligently with President Reagan to scale back nuclear arsenals and deescalate tensions with the west.
In Brian Mora’s book some of the fictitious characters were real people given fictitious names and some of the more fictitious characters in the book I suspect were based on real people. He also concludes the book with names of the actual participants and an actual timeline of the real events in the appendix.
While we can enjoy this book for its entertainment value, we should also take it as a serious warning to change the path we currently find ourselves on, both here in the US and to our allies abroad because one miscalculation could mean our very last miscalculation.
July 5, 2023
I was fortunate to stumble across this outstanding book while reading Jack Carr's Only The Dead (equally outstanding). Most people are under the incorrect notion the closest the world came to a full out nuclear war was during the Cuban Missile Crisis (this includes that bastion of historical knowledge Bill O'reilly---there is a reason all his books are co-written). This is a fallacy, during the Cuban missile crisis the highest echelons of both governments were speaking to each other on the Bat phone. In 1983 largely as a result of Ronald Reagan calling the Soviet Union an Evil Empire (they were), the promotion of space defense technology aka "star wars" the use of satellites to shoot down soviet ICBM nuclear missile launches and the fact the Kremlin and the soviets did not have a pot to piss in things got real spicy. Unbeknownst to myself, and I am sure the majority of Americans a series of provocative acts off the Kamchatka peninsula, including naval maneuvers put the Soviets on high alert. This led to the shoot down of the Korean 747 passenger plane resulting in the deaths of over 200 innocent civilians. To be fair the airliner was in Soviet airspace (asian pilot insert conclusions here) President Reagan used this event to further stoke tensions (again rightfully in my opinion--the soviets sucked and were evil bastards). In October of 1983 there was no communication between the leaders of the east and west. Nato at this time conducted a nuclear preparedness drill called Able Archer. The soviets believed this was a cover to launch a decapitating first nuclear strike against them. As a result they placed nuclear launch rockets at their forward bases and were ready to launch at a moments notice. To add more fuel to the fire Andropov the soviet leader was gravely ill and the impression is he wanted to have an excuse to launch nuclear weapons. Fortunately a handful of U.S. generals and soviet intelligence officers were able to provide assurances to the soviets so nuclear Armageddon did not occur. This book tells their story. It is disturbing and amazing at the same time. Read it you will not be disappointed.
September 1, 2022
I was on watch with these able archers while reading several nights into morning, on edge to learn the outcome of every development. Real life always provides the best drama. Telling the story needs a careful narrator. Brian Morra focuses on the skilled players on both sides of the US-Soviet power dance, keeping the details simple, direct, revealing. He helps us see the madness of listening to your own beliefs instead of the saving grace of allowing for all the facts and possibilities to govern decisions. We can feel the urgency and risk. No surprise that this has been picked up for a film/series. I'm eager to experience again on the screen and read the next historical fiction by Morra.
April 30, 2025
required reading
2.5/5 stars
The Able Archers provides one revelation- the world almost ended in 1983. Besides that, I found the story flat. The characters had no real depth and the dialogue was incredibly unrealistic and unemotional. The only characters that had any sort of emotional "depth" were Cattani and Levchenko, but there lack of deep interpersonal relationships with those around them left the story with no real ability to emotionally relate to the audience.
Morra set out with a noble goal - to tell a story that has not been told and humanize soldiers in the United States and the Soviet Union. I thought it was genius to include two point of views, especially since the Cold War is often told in two extremes. Sadly, the lack of emotional depth and meaningful relationships let this bold choice down. Cattani and Levchenko's voices were remarkably similar in tone, which made them feel too complimentary to make a real difference.
2.5/5 stars
The Able Archers provides one revelation- the world almost ended in 1983. Besides that, I found the story flat. The characters had no real depth and the dialogue was incredibly unrealistic and unemotional. The only characters that had any sort of emotional "depth" were Cattani and Levchenko, but there lack of deep interpersonal relationships with those around them left the story with no real ability to emotionally relate to the audience.
Morra set out with a noble goal - to tell a story that has not been told and humanize soldiers in the United States and the Soviet Union. I thought it was genius to include two point of views, especially since the Cold War is often told in two extremes. Sadly, the lack of emotional depth and meaningful relationships let this bold choice down. Cattani and Levchenko's voices were remarkably similar in tone, which made them feel too complimentary to make a real difference.
August 3, 2022
This was a very interesting story. The writing style took a couple chapters to get used to. But aside from that it was fascinating to read.
December 22, 2023
Although this is fictional, many of the events really happened. I couldn't stop reading once I started - the story is riveting. I'm quite glad I was unaware of these events when they were happening.
November 22, 2023
This was a very well written account from both the Soviet and NATO perspective of an amazing event. It’s chilling that the world was so close to the brink, that a small group of people saved us all, and that most people have never heard the story. Thank you for a great read!
August 11, 2022
Interesting treatment of one of the scariest years in modern history. If you thought the Cuban missile crisis was tense, this fictional telling of 1983 is thrilling, but not just for some pretty good writing, but also because it's a pretty accurate retelling of the history.
July 24, 2022
Up All Night
Only comparison I can make, is that I had the same emotional and intellectual response as that I had in reading "The Hunt for Red October." A great read!
Only comparison I can make, is that I had the same emotional and intellectual response as that I had in reading "The Hunt for Red October." A great read!
April 27, 2022
Fantastic book based on real life events during a tense time in our nation's history. Nuclear war with Russia was narrowly avoided in 1983 through brilliant strategy involving debate and compromise. A great read esp in these times.
April 12, 2022
No sleep for me tonight
This amazing book, which I just finished, has left me gasping for air. This is a must read. Do it.
This amazing book, which I just finished, has left me gasping for air. This is a must read. Do it.
May 27, 2022
Amazing book.
March 1, 2024
The Able Archers by Brian J. Morra is a historical fiction novel taking place in 1983 when the United States and the Soviet Union were on the brink of nuclear war. Mr. Morra is a former U.S. intelligence officer and a retired senior aerospace executive.
Junior Air Force Intelligence Officer Kevin Cattani is quickly becoming a rising star in the Air Force due to his cool head, ability to work under pressure, and ability to correctly analyze complex situations. Being in the right place at the right time, Captain Cattani earns the trust and respect of senior officers.
Colonel Ivan Levchenko of the GRU Intelligence is investigating of KAL007 incident that happened, from a Soviet perspective. He is also part of RYaN, a Russian program for nuclear missile attacks.
The American Captain and the Soviet Colonel scramble to avert an all-out nuclear war, while the diplomats refuse to practice diplomacy.
This book is a fantastic account of a terrifying event that very few know about. I was on the edge of my seat till the very end … and I knew how it was going to end (spoiler: there was no nuclear war in 1983).
The Able Archers by Brian J. Morra manages to build momentum and create tension without guns, car chases, or any other cliches. Instead, we get teletypes, briefings, and secure communications which create anxiety just as much as explosives.
Through Col. Levchenko we get to experience the Soviet paranoia of an imminent nuclear attack. The even-minded officer, gives us an insight into the paranoia that afflicted the Soviet high command, convinced that the US and NATO were disguising their initial attack as an exercise.
The book shows how the world teeters on the edge, and its existence rests in the hands of even-minded unknown analysts, doing a grey job, in grey rooms, under huge amounts of pressure, and great consequences if they get things wrong. Mr. Morra gets this point across in an exciting, readable manner without using much military/governmental jargon.
I’m glad I stumbled on this book, it deserves an audience and wider circulation. Mr. Morra has a talent for writing, the book doesn’t read like an intelligence brief, but historical fiction at its best.
The book has a combination of real and fictional characters, which the author outlines as well. I was glad to read about Stanislov Petrov, a hero who stopped World War III in 1983, after the KAL007 incident.
Junior Air Force Intelligence Officer Kevin Cattani is quickly becoming a rising star in the Air Force due to his cool head, ability to work under pressure, and ability to correctly analyze complex situations. Being in the right place at the right time, Captain Cattani earns the trust and respect of senior officers.
Colonel Ivan Levchenko of the GRU Intelligence is investigating of KAL007 incident that happened, from a Soviet perspective. He is also part of RYaN, a Russian program for nuclear missile attacks.
The American Captain and the Soviet Colonel scramble to avert an all-out nuclear war, while the diplomats refuse to practice diplomacy.
This book is a fantastic account of a terrifying event that very few know about. I was on the edge of my seat till the very end … and I knew how it was going to end (spoiler: there was no nuclear war in 1983).
The Able Archers by Brian J. Morra manages to build momentum and create tension without guns, car chases, or any other cliches. Instead, we get teletypes, briefings, and secure communications which create anxiety just as much as explosives.
Through Col. Levchenko we get to experience the Soviet paranoia of an imminent nuclear attack. The even-minded officer, gives us an insight into the paranoia that afflicted the Soviet high command, convinced that the US and NATO were disguising their initial attack as an exercise.
The book shows how the world teeters on the edge, and its existence rests in the hands of even-minded unknown analysts, doing a grey job, in grey rooms, under huge amounts of pressure, and great consequences if they get things wrong. Mr. Morra gets this point across in an exciting, readable manner without using much military/governmental jargon.
I’m glad I stumbled on this book, it deserves an audience and wider circulation. Mr. Morra has a talent for writing, the book doesn’t read like an intelligence brief, but historical fiction at its best.
The book has a combination of real and fictional characters, which the author outlines as well. I was glad to read about Stanislov Petrov, a hero who stopped World War III in 1983, after the KAL007 incident.
June 15, 2024
The Able Archers was terrific. I was hooked from page 1 and had much difficulty putting it down. The plot was very, very real and shed some light on events that the news media have not touched. It is good to see this story come out. The book is positioned as fiction, and some characters are fictitious, but the sense of reality is pervasive throughout this concise and to-the-point story. I was on the edge of my seat reading this, even though I knew the outcome.
The book is written in the first person by two protagonists, an American intelligence officer, and a Russian intelligence officer. The author deftly flips from one protagonist to the other, until the two meet. I have to admit I was not quite sure who was who in that meeting, but I feel the author handled this challenging structure superbly. I was impressed.
I look forward to reading more from this engaging and knowledgeable storyteller.
The book is written in the first person by two protagonists, an American intelligence officer, and a Russian intelligence officer. The author deftly flips from one protagonist to the other, until the two meet. I have to admit I was not quite sure who was who in that meeting, but I feel the author handled this challenging structure superbly. I was impressed.
I look forward to reading more from this engaging and knowledgeable storyteller.
May 21, 2022
Published just two months ago, this book is based on true events that led up to the brink of nuclear annihilation between the Soviet Union and the US in the summer and fall of 1983–and not many in the world were really aware. Capt Kevin Cattani is a bright USAF intelligence officer, and his counterpart is the more experience Soviet Col Ivan Levchenko. Beginning with the Soviet shoot down of a Korean Airlines flight that accidentally strayed into Soviet airspace, the tensions between each country and the ratcheting up of alert states quickly made the risk for miscalculation ever slighter. Through determined investigations on both sides to uncover the truth and mistakes made, to a building of trust between these two men and their countries, the eventual outcome would result in a walk back from the potential horror that could have manifest.
December 30, 2022
This is not great literature by any stretch of the imagination, but it is an interesting and little-known story. The author has created a fictionalized account in order, I suspect, to avoid onerous requirements to redact information which is still classified, such as US military forays into Cambodia after 1975, or secret collaboration between the US and Soviet military to try to prevent Andropov from starting a nuclear war because of his paranoia over Reagan's sabre rattling. I knew about Stanislav Petrov's role in avoiding nuclear armageddon, but I did not know about the tense negotiations in Oct-Nov 1983 to de-escalate a terrifying situation.
An easy read which illuminates how close we came to annihilation forty years ago.
An easy read which illuminates how close we came to annihilation forty years ago.
January 3, 2023
Riveting novel, I could not put it down. The fact that the author is a former U.S. intelligence officer who was directly involved in the real-life events of 1983, which were only recently declassified, makes the story that much more fascinating. I like the way it is told in first person, both from the U.S. officer’s point of view and the Russian officer’s. It makes for a compelling story and shows exactly how events can be misconstrued, bringing about potentially catastrophic results. This book is particularly relevant today given the Russia-Ukraine crisis. I highly recommend The Able Archers!
October 5, 2023
my eyes were bugging out while reading
This is such a harrowing story as fiction, but to know it is based on actual events, makes it surreal. I was a boy when this occurred and actually remember KAL 007 and the tension it caused. Of course, none of us knew what was happening as a consequence.
It’s an interesting structure: first-person accounts from an American and a Soviet. It worked. I felt like I understood and empathized with both men.
There is a point to this story: how a small group of very rational, intelligent, intuitive men on both sides worked together to literally save the world.
This is such a harrowing story as fiction, but to know it is based on actual events, makes it surreal. I was a boy when this occurred and actually remember KAL 007 and the tension it caused. Of course, none of us knew what was happening as a consequence.
It’s an interesting structure: first-person accounts from an American and a Soviet. It worked. I felt like I understood and empathized with both men.
There is a point to this story: how a small group of very rational, intelligent, intuitive men on both sides worked together to literally save the world.
February 19, 2024
Fantastic historical fiction novel of a couple of days when the world could have ended via global nuclear war. The Able Archers is told through the eyes of two key Officers: a young American intelligence officer, Captain Kevin Cattani; and his more experienced Soviet counterpart, Colonel Ivan Levchenko.
If you like historical fiction, then buy this book NOW!! I actually read the 2nd book "The Righteous Arrows" before this one, but then I had never heard of Brian J. Morra. I totally recommend this book. Thanks to Koehler Books, NetGalley, and of course the author. Looks like I will be the 1st to read and review this amazing book on Netgalley.
If you like historical fiction, then buy this book NOW!! I actually read the 2nd book "The Righteous Arrows" before this one, but then I had never heard of Brian J. Morra. I totally recommend this book. Thanks to Koehler Books, NetGalley, and of course the author. Looks like I will be the 1st to read and review this amazing book on Netgalley.
November 25, 2024
An excellent historical fiction story based on the events that occurred before, during, and after the Russian air force shot down Korean Air Flight 007 in September 1983. The passenger jet had veered off course, and was thought to be a threat following an American incursion in April, raising tensions in the area. The book focuses on the heroic actions of an American and Russian officer, who helped avoid what could have become WWIII. Very well done, high in tension, and forthcoming about a historical event that was not fully understood by the general public.
June 28, 2024
I love the writing in this book. There is so much research done on this book and the war that may have happened at the time. The author really did a great job on the research of what happened during that time frame. I loved how the author took real life generals and military personnel and put them into the book and also of course his well written fictional characters!
I highly recommend this read to fans of historical fiction and also real life based events in history!
I highly recommend this read to fans of historical fiction and also real life based events in history!
February 10, 2025
Tense and interesting story, and an event about which I knew nothing. The book split perspectives between the Americans and Soviets, and I found the American writing more interesting and engaging. Something about the Soviet view felt more disjointed and poorly written with clunky, unbelievable dialogue. Overall, very interesting and most importantly, made me want to learn more about the historical event.
April 16, 2022
Gripping
This is hard to put down once you start reading it and you’re immediately drawn in. You get to know the major characters intimately and feel like you’re in the room sharing their situations and conversations. I didn’t want the book to end and find it hard to put out of my conscience mind.
This is hard to put down once you start reading it and you’re immediately drawn in. You get to know the major characters intimately and feel like you’re in the room sharing their situations and conversations. I didn’t want the book to end and find it hard to put out of my conscience mind.
April 1, 2022
Riveting
Brilliant and captivating convergence of historically accurate (and scary) events that nearly lead to a works demise and vibrant fictional characters who amplify the novel to another level. Amazing read for anyone, especially Cold War buffs and historians.
Brilliant and captivating convergence of historically accurate (and scary) events that nearly lead to a works demise and vibrant fictional characters who amplify the novel to another level. Amazing read for anyone, especially Cold War buffs and historians.
October 27, 2022
Very cool piece of historical fiction
It was a tremendous idea to take a little known piece of history and craft an interesting fictional story around it. Great way to tell the world about an important event.
It was a tremendous idea to take a little known piece of history and craft an interesting fictional story around it. Great way to tell the world about an important event.
January 26, 2023
Well worth reading. It shows how perceptions are so different between the leadership of the United States and Russia during the 1980s. Shocking how close we came to nuclear war and the public didn't know it.
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February 21, 2023Stunning!
Wow, this read is quite sobering. I graduated High school in1983. My 18th birthday was September 3rd. I remember the downing of the Korean 747 but as for the rest...sheesh! Read this book, you won't regret it.
Wow, this read is quite sobering. I graduated High school in1983. My 18th birthday was September 3rd. I remember the downing of the Korean 747 but as for the rest...sheesh! Read this book, you won't regret it.
June 14, 2022
Good page turner; informative
August 11, 2022
4.5. Loved it and an important read right now.
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