For six months in 1942, Stalingrad is the center of a titanic struggle between the Russian and German armies—the bloodiest campaign in mankind's long history of warfare. The outcome is pivotal. If Hitler's forces are not stopped, Russia will fall. And with it, the world....
German soldiers call the battle Rattenkrieg, War of the Rats. The combat is horrific, as soldiers die in the smoking cellars and trenches of a ruined city. Through this twisted carnage stalk two men—one Russian, one German—each the top sniper in his respective army. These two marksmen are equally matched in both skill and tenacity. Each man has his own mission: to find his counterpart—and kill him.
But an American woman trapped in Russia complicates this extraordinary duel. Joining the Russian sniper's cadre, she soon becomes one of his most talented assassins—and perhaps his greatest weakness. Based on a true story, this is the harrowing tale of two adversaries enmeshed in their own private war—and whose fortunes will help decide the fate of the world.
David L. Robbins is also the author of Souls to Keep. A former attorney and freelance writer, he now writes full-time in Richmond, Virginia.
"A great novel of one of the epic battles of all time--Stalingrad."—W.E.B. Griffin
"Robbins has done his homework....A historical thriller with the punch of a full metal jacket."—The Denver Post
"A frighteningly realistic patchwork depicting the long siege that changed the course of the war. Based on a true story, the novel deftly captures an extraordinary time and place in history...[in a] vivid, authentic representation of men of unusual skill and focus in the midst of a barbarous war."—Richmond-Times Dispatch
"Immensely exciting and terribly authentic. White-knuckle tension as the two most dangerous snipers in Europe hunt each other through the hell of Stalingrad."—Frederick Forsyth, author of The Day of the Jackal and The Fist of God
"I devoured it. The reporting and writing are amazing, and the snipers' duel with its layers of subtle technique and imagined motivation is suspenseful and powerful. It's a very good portrait of one of this century's most important and terrible battles, and probably the most intense urban conflict in history."—Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down
"a good candidate for the thriller of the summer award... gives a compelling and graphic sense of the heroism-filled nightmare called Stalingrad...A readable, gritty adventure story."—The New York Times
"Breakneck-fast and laced with real-life vignettes."—USA Today
