I'LL TELL YOU NO LIES

An American teenager becomes entangled in a web of lies with a Soviet defector during the Cold War.

The year is 1955, and Shelby Blaine is grieving the death of her mother three weeks prior when her life is turned upside down again. Col. Blaine, Shelby’s father, is in Air Force intelligence, and he’s been given a special assignment that takes them from their military base in Germany to upstate New York, where his expertise is required to debrief a Soviet defector. Eighteen-year-old Shelby makes the acquaintance of the defector, a young Ukrainian pilot named Maksym Kostyshyn, at a welcoming party, but the next day she learns that he has escaped without a trace after the military found a hole in his story. When Maksym makes contact with her, Shelby has to decide whether to turn him in under suspicion that he is in fact a KGB operative or to believe him when he insists that he is telling the truth. What follows is a fast-paced, twisty story that keeps readers on their toes. Along with Shelby, they will be unsure who to believe and who can be trusted. This spy thriller is peppered with rich period details. Shelby’s character feels like an authentic portrayal of an intelligent, college-bound teenager of the time, lending the book the realistic air of the past come to vivid life.

A fascinating dive into a segment of history that reverberates today.