David Downing

Jack McColl is a part-time spy for the fledgling Secret Service on the eve of the First World War. Caitlin Hanley is a young Irish-American journalist and McColl is captivated. But the pair become involved in a plot that threatens the Empire in its hour of greatest need...  Book 1 of series.

November 1945. John Russell is informed by his old accomplice, Soviet agent Yevgeny Shchepkin, that his masters in Moscow have decided it's time to pay them back for securing his safe exit from Russia. Russell must return to Berlin to become a double agent on Stalin's payroll. Together, he and Shchepkin - who has finally lost his faith in the Soviet utopia - hatch a plan to gain their freedom. Book 5 of the series.

Europe, 1948. The continent is once again divided: into the Soviet-controlled East, and the US-dominated West. John Russell and his old comrade-in-espionage Shchepkin need to find a way out of the dangerous, morally murky world they have both inhabited for far too long. But if they want to escape with their lives, they must uncover a secret so damaging that they can buy safety with their silence... Book 6 of series.

This provocative alternative history looks at the Second World War from a new angle - what might have happened had the Germans taken Moscow in 1941.

Based on authentic history and real possibilities, this unique speculative narrative plays out the dramatic consequences of opportunities taken and examines the grotesque possibilities of a Third Reich triumphant.

On 30 September 1941, the Germans fight their way into the ruins of Moscow and the Soviet Union collapses. Although Russian resistance continues, German ambition multiplies after this signal success and offensives are launched in Africa, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Hitler’s armies, assured of victory, make their leader’s dreams reality and Allied hopes of recovery seem almost hopelessly doomed.

David Downing convincingly blends actual history with the stimulating world of alternate events. The Moscow Option is a chilling reminder that history might easily have been very different.

Spring 1915: World War One rages across Europe, and the British Empire is assailed on all fronts - domestic and abroad. Amidst this bloodbath of nations, where one man's flag is another man's shroud, Secret Service spy, Jack McColl, is asked to do the impossible: seduce and betray the woman he loves, again. Only this time betrayal is a two-way street...

April, 1945. The Third Reich is on the verge of extinction, and its enemies are already plotting against each other. For journalist John Russell, this has personal importance: his son and girlfriend are trapped in Berlin and only the Soviets can get him in there. But the price of their help will threaten both his and the world's postwar future. Book 4 of series.

1945. The Red Army tears through Europe and victory over Hitler seems certain. But from the Kremlin, Stalin worries about a new enemy. When the war is over, how will the Soviet Union protect itself against the Americans? For both, the atom bomb is the answer. And both are willing to sacrifice their best spies to get it.

In July 1939 John Russell returns to Berlin as the newly appointed Central European correspondent of an American newspaper. With his communist past, German son and English-American parentage he's the perfect catch for any of Europe's warring espionage services - and none will take no for an answer. Book 2 of series.

November 1941. John Russell, one of a handful of much-censored journalists, finds himself pushed into serving as a point of contact between the anti-Nazi Abwehr and American intelligence. But his real work revolves around one crucial question - what fate awaits those Berliner Jews who are now being shipped to the East? Book 3 of series.

Berlin, February 1933. John Russell watches the Reichstag burn, but it's no scoop, even for a crime reporter. Four weeks after Hitler's accession, brownshirt mobs stalk the streets and the press prints what the Party tells it. Russell, a former communist with a British passport should be packing his bags, but while family ties bind him, his assignments draw him closer to the savage heart of the new regime.  Book 8 of series.