Autorentext

Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of eighteen Cotton Malone novels, five stand-alone thrillers, and several works of short fiction. He has more than twenty-six million books in print, translated into forty-one languages. With his wife, Elizabeth, he is the founder of History Matters, an organization dedicated to historical preservation. He serves as an emeritus member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board and was a founding member of International Thriller Writers, formerly serving as its co‑president.
 
Grant Blackwood is the New York Times bestselling author of the Briggs Tanner series, (The End of Enemies, The Wall of Night, and An Echo of War); the co-author of the Fargo Adventure Series (Spartan Gold, Lost Empire, and The Kingdom) with Clive Cussler; co-author of The Kill Switch with James Rollins; and co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Dead or Alive, with Tom Clancy.  A U. S. Navy veteran, Grant spent three years aboard a guided missile frigate as an Operations Specialist and a Pilot Rescue Swimmer. Grant lives in Colorado, where he is working on his own standalone series starring a new hero.
 
 

Klappentext

From New York Times bestselling authors Steve Berry and Grant Blackwood comes an action-packed adventure: in the waning days of the Cold War, Luke Daniels embarks on a quest in search of the legendary library of Ivan the Terrible—the unlikely key to ending a looming threat orbiting two hundred miles above the earth. 

Wrapping up his latest assignment for the Magellan Billet, Luke Daniels receives a surprise visit from the head of a former-CIA operation named Sommerhaus—a failed attempt to assemble an espionage network within the Ukraine on the eve of the Russian invasion.  Sommerhaus ranks high on Luke’s list of painful regrets, for it was during this mission that his friend, CIA case officer John Vince, was captured by Russian operatives and supposedly executed.  

But Luke is provided some shocking news.  Vince is alive, in failing health, locked behind the walls of Russia’s brutal Solovetsky Island prison, and has a critical message he’ll give to no one but Luke. Luke vows to bring Vince home.    

However, just as he manages to extract his friend from prison Vince tragically dies and his final words are rambling and incoherent–but enough to plunge Luke into a hunt for something lost since the 15th century.  The legendary library of the first Tsar of All Russia, Ivan the Terrible.    

Within that priceless collection of rare manuscripts is the key to unraveling a modern-day cipher and stopping a secret Soviet satellite program that still exists.  But Luke is not the only one on the trail.  Others, both inside and out of Russia, want the library for a totally different reason–to restart the Red Star program and finally unleash its destructive potential.  Luke’s mission is clear: find the lost library, solve the puzzle, and prevent Red Star falling.