TITLE: The Klaus Protocol
AUTHOR: Frank Schildiner
158 pages, Frank Schildiner Books, ISBN 9781395000780 (format)
DESCRIPTION: (from online retail listings): "You will do this, Comrade Captain," Yehzov said in a strangled whisper, "or the torture you received from Commandant Blokhin will feel like the gentle caress from a lover." SOVIET UNION 1938: Army Captain and former military intelligence officer Konstanin Kalinin has a simple choice. Discover a high ranking traitor stationed on the Soviet/Japanese Asian border, or receive a slow death by torture. He has less than two months to untangle a web of deceit and death as two countries prepare for bloody war. Can Konstanin discover the double agent before the spy or the Soviet secret police capture or kill him? Based on real events just prior to World War 2, THE KLAUS PROTOCOL is a mystery thriller set before the little known war between the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan.
MY RATING: Five stars out of five
MY THOUGHTS: Frank Schildiner’s new self-published novella retains all the hallmarks of his traditionally-published works: fast-moving action and strong characterization built off of meticulous research into the genre or series in which he is writing. Fans of Schildiner’s fantasy/horror Frankenstein and Vampire Hunters novels from Black Coat Press or his short story work in a variety of New Pulp anthologies will not be disappointed in his first straight-up spy novel.
After a short framing sequence, Schildiner immerses the reader in the Soviet Union political landscape of the late 1930s. The depth of his research into the back-stabbing manipulations by various Soviet sub-leaders of the military and secret police shines through on almost every page without ever distracting from the on-going action. He artfully avoids info-dumping historical perspective on the reader (saving most of that for the author’s note at the end) by tying the backgrounds and butchery of the real-life leaders to the internal thoughts and previous experiences of his protagonist, Captain Konstanin Kalinin.
Kalinin himself feels like a character out of a LeCarre novel: an everyman with a certain set of skills who finds himself thrust into situations potentially beyond his abilities but who rises to the occasion (not without error along the way; Kalinin is good, but he’s not perfect) rather than be overwhelmed. Although this novella takes place before World War Two, I can easily envision a world in which Kalinin and LeCarre’s George Smiley are at least aware of the others’ activities and successes from opposite sides of the political chessboard. And because Kalinin is an everyman (troubled marriage, troubled career, a bit downtrodden but not completely without hope), it is very easy to root for him to succeed despite the fact that failure could spell defeat for the Soviet Union in their war against Japan.
The mystery aspect – Kalinin’s mission to uncover who is behind the leak of military secrets – is played out well: multiple plausible suspects, red herrings, characters with their own sub-agendas and secrets, and an ultimately satisfactory reveal. But don’t read the author’s end-notes first if you want to be surprised or try to work it out yourself alongside the main character. The action sequences, including several motorbike chase sequences, are exciting, and the several scenes of torture (usually with our main character on the receiving end as opposed to other characters) are brutal while staying shy of being “too much.”
There are a number of intriguing secondary characters that add depth to the story as well. Strong female characters abound as a match for Kalinin (whether they’re on his side or not is something I won’t spoil). Fans of M*A*S*H will recognize a particular type in the character of Sergeant Mosin, who I would be happy to see in a short story of his own. And of course both the real-life and fictional bad-guys are well-drawn and complex.
This one comes with full recommendation to fans of historical spy novels and action-adventure novels. It’s out now for Nook and Apple Books, and should be on Amazon in a few days.