Every good thriller needs a good villain, right. Well, there are a number of “bad guys” in my latest novel Operation Nightfall: The Web of Spies. There are a host of bad actors who play important roles in the book. But, in today’s post, I’d like to introduce you to three characters who give their best to do their worst.
In the opening chapter titled, “The Incident,” readers are introduced to Lt. Colonel Yuri Sokolov who plays a prominent role throughout the book. He’s the number one antagonist. Sokolov is a fictional character, but I based him on one of the most evil men who ever lived, Vasily Blokhin.
Blokhin was a former Soviet secret police officer who served as its chief executioner for more than twenty-five years. He was hand-picked by Stalin to lead a company of executioners who carried out their grisly orders during the Great Purge and along the Eastern front during WWII. He is considered to be the most prolific executioner in history, and killed tens of thousands of prisoners by his own hand, including more than seven thousand prisoners during the Katyn Massacre in Poland.
Vitali Serov, the top Soviet spy, or Rezident, stationed in London doesn’t make his appearance until chapter 12, “The Invisibles,” but that doesn’t make him any less important. I based Serov’s character on the real-life exploits of former Soviet MGB and KGB officer, Anatoly Gorsky who served both in London and in the United States.
While stationed in London in the early 1940s, Gorsky ran the Cambridge Five spy ring and also successfully penetrated Great Britain’s atomic bomb program. In 1944, Gorsky was transferred to the United States, where he worked under cover as “Anatoly Gromov.”
And last, but certainly not least, readers are introduced to Peter Avery in chapter 9, “Soho.” Avery’s character is based upon the life of Cambridge Five spy, Donald Maclean. While Maclean was not the best known of the Cambridge Five, the information he provided to the Soviets was some of the most damaging to Great Britain and to the U.S. He gave the Soviets important insights into U.S. and British plans and intentions in the areas of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons policy, along with details about the formation of NATO. In his nearly twenty year career as a spy for the Soviet Union, Maclean’s actions definitely caused “exceptionally grave damage to the United States and Great Britain.
The Prairies Book Review calls Operation Nightfall: The Web of Spies, “Tense, intricate, unflinchingly real; a stunner.” It’s available online at wherever you like to buy your books. Or, you can order your signed copy from Caprichos Books in Ocean Pines, MD.