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The Tashkent Crisis
Story of one man - one lonely human being caught between two super-powers playing out their deadly game of brinksmanship...from Washington to the Kremlin and a strange isolated city on the plains of central Asia....a breathless moment-by-moment drama...heartstopping & compelling. The powers of the Kremlin have given the United States 72 hours to surrender or face a weapon of unusual destructive force....
279 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
About the author
William Craig
76 books43 followersWilliam Craig (1929-1997) was an American author and historian.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 3, 2022
William Craig made his name with WW II histories, “The Fall of Japan” and, one I recently read, the meticulously researched “Enemy at the Gates: The Battle of Stalingrad.” So, even though I only on rare occasions delve into political thrillers, I was curious as to how he handled that fiction genre in this 1971 novel. Simply put, he handled it excellently. Probably the best Cold War drama I’ve read since “Fail Safe.” In the final sections I could hardly put it down. Beyond the geopolitical ramifications he also explored the personal psychological effect this type of situation can bear on a human being.
Even though it’s over 50 years old I couldn’t help but notice how our situation is so similar today. A deeply divided country, distrust of government, left and right disdaining and attacking each other, international saber rattling, mad men and brave men on both sides. As was once said, history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes sometimes.
Even though it’s over 50 years old I couldn’t help but notice how our situation is so similar today. A deeply divided country, distrust of government, left and right disdaining and attacking each other, international saber rattling, mad men and brave men on both sides. As was once said, history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes sometimes.
December 12, 2013
In this Cold War thriller, the Soviets(Boo!)have a developed a massive beam weapon and their are going fire it at Washington. So the President must stall them, as a covert team of US soldiers enter the Soviet Union to destroy the weapon!
The Soviets are bad, the Americans are good and the countdown is exciting.
I just love the old Cold War thrillers!
The Soviets are bad, the Americans are good and the countdown is exciting.
I just love the old Cold War thrillers!
December 14, 2015
Credible cold war yarn from back in the day.
February 9, 2025
The Tashkent Crisis
, published in 1971 and written by William Craig, is an obscure Cold War thriller that brings to mind classic Alistair MacLean adventures of the 1960s and Tom Clancy "techno-thrillers" of the 1980s. Based on a few positive online reviews and a cover blurb by Donald Hamilton, I picked up the hardback for six bucks and gave it a quick read.
As the novel opens, an American scholar on his way to the Moscow airport is approached by a Russian journalist, given a package and implored to deliver it to an old friend in the State Department. The American doesn't know it, but the package contains technical documents describing a devastating new Soviet weapon system, the existence of which Washington only dimly suspects. Apparently the Soviets have successfully tested an energy weapon that will enable them to incinerate any city on the planet at will. To make matters worse, a hardline general has covertly seized power in Moscow and is preparing to force America's surrender by demonstrating the awesome power of the new death ray. He soon issues an ultimatum to the President: surrender to Soviet forces in 72 hours, or Washington D. C. will be annihilated.
Desperate for an alternative to surrender or mutual nuclear destruction, the President authorizes a seemingly suicidal sabotage mission into the heart of Soviet Asia to destroy the secret weapon before it destroys them. A four-person team is quickly assembled, consisting of a bad-ass Russian-speaking Green Beret of Czech heritage, a KGB defector who had plastic surgery and is now working for the CIA, an ex-Soviet tank commander with experience running cells behind the iron curtain, and a five foot tall Jewish female assassin who grew up near Tashkent.
The sabotage mission was the heart of the story, and the most exciting part by far. The quick assembling of the team; the stealth, low-altitude insertion by helicopter from Pakistan over the Hindu Kush mountains into Uzbekistan; the tense jeep ride across the steppe, dressed as Soviet soldiers, to the vicinity of the secret base; the hideout at the ruined mosque; the intrigue as a traitor in their midst is revealed; the scouting of the secret base; the desperate attempt to complete the sabotage mission despite heavy security—while it's highly implausible that such a mission would be attempted on such short notice with such a team, it made for a gripping tale.
Meanwhile in D.C., the president masterminds a grand deception that involves setting off natural gas explosions throughout D.C. to provide cover for his emergency evacuation of the city, while Soviet provocateurs manage to convince anti-war protestors that the president is on the verge of launching an all-out nuclear attack on Russia. The ultra-hawk Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is pushing for a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the base, there is still no word from the sabotage team, and the President, under intense pressure from all sides, holds the fate of America and the world in his hands.
It was fascinating to read how many of the American political divisions described in this book are still going strong after more than 50 years, as well as the international tensions. While this is definitely a snapshot of America in the early 1970s, with an unpopular war winding down, war-hawks rattling sabers and anxious to prove that the military can still win, paranoia about mutually-assured mass destruction, governments deceiving their populations and protestors being manipulated by shadowy powers, in many ways it is still very relevant to our time.
This was a good read, but I think it would've been even better as a more streamlined men's adventure novel focused on the sabotage mission, with less of the political intrigues, drama with the protestors, government cover-ups, etc. Also, the Soviet death ray and the weapon the saboteurs brought to destroy it both seemed rather unrealistic and science-fictional, and took me out of the story a bit.
Apparently Craig only wrote one more novel, which is surprising because this was an entertaining debut effort that, despite some far-fetched elements, had all the ingredients of a successful espionage thriller. Recommended for fans of the genre.
Get a copy of The Tashkent Crisis here.
As the novel opens, an American scholar on his way to the Moscow airport is approached by a Russian journalist, given a package and implored to deliver it to an old friend in the State Department. The American doesn't know it, but the package contains technical documents describing a devastating new Soviet weapon system, the existence of which Washington only dimly suspects. Apparently the Soviets have successfully tested an energy weapon that will enable them to incinerate any city on the planet at will. To make matters worse, a hardline general has covertly seized power in Moscow and is preparing to force America's surrender by demonstrating the awesome power of the new death ray. He soon issues an ultimatum to the President: surrender to Soviet forces in 72 hours, or Washington D. C. will be annihilated.
Desperate for an alternative to surrender or mutual nuclear destruction, the President authorizes a seemingly suicidal sabotage mission into the heart of Soviet Asia to destroy the secret weapon before it destroys them. A four-person team is quickly assembled, consisting of a bad-ass Russian-speaking Green Beret of Czech heritage, a KGB defector who had plastic surgery and is now working for the CIA, an ex-Soviet tank commander with experience running cells behind the iron curtain, and a five foot tall Jewish female assassin who grew up near Tashkent.
The sabotage mission was the heart of the story, and the most exciting part by far. The quick assembling of the team; the stealth, low-altitude insertion by helicopter from Pakistan over the Hindu Kush mountains into Uzbekistan; the tense jeep ride across the steppe, dressed as Soviet soldiers, to the vicinity of the secret base; the hideout at the ruined mosque; the intrigue as a traitor in their midst is revealed; the scouting of the secret base; the desperate attempt to complete the sabotage mission despite heavy security—while it's highly implausible that such a mission would be attempted on such short notice with such a team, it made for a gripping tale.
Meanwhile in D.C., the president masterminds a grand deception that involves setting off natural gas explosions throughout D.C. to provide cover for his emergency evacuation of the city, while Soviet provocateurs manage to convince anti-war protestors that the president is on the verge of launching an all-out nuclear attack on Russia. The ultra-hawk Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is pushing for a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the base, there is still no word from the sabotage team, and the President, under intense pressure from all sides, holds the fate of America and the world in his hands.
It was fascinating to read how many of the American political divisions described in this book are still going strong after more than 50 years, as well as the international tensions. While this is definitely a snapshot of America in the early 1970s, with an unpopular war winding down, war-hawks rattling sabers and anxious to prove that the military can still win, paranoia about mutually-assured mass destruction, governments deceiving their populations and protestors being manipulated by shadowy powers, in many ways it is still very relevant to our time.
This was a good read, but I think it would've been even better as a more streamlined men's adventure novel focused on the sabotage mission, with less of the political intrigues, drama with the protestors, government cover-ups, etc. Also, the Soviet death ray and the weapon the saboteurs brought to destroy it both seemed rather unrealistic and science-fictional, and took me out of the story a bit.
Apparently Craig only wrote one more novel, which is surprising because this was an entertaining debut effort that, despite some far-fetched elements, had all the ingredients of a successful espionage thriller. Recommended for fans of the genre.
Get a copy of The Tashkent Crisis here.
August 13, 2023
I read this thriller as the teenager, and it has stuck in my memory ever since. The Soviet Union have developed a laser beam weapon and threaten to use it against Washington DC. The US President is given a choice: surrender or face attack. He decides to send a secret team to destroy the weapon.
This is a Cold War thriller that makes you think of the unthinkable. It was written during the time when a nuclear war was quite possible. William Craig takes you inside the White House, so that we can see the debates within President William Mellon Stark's Administration. How is he going to solve this crisis? We are also given a ring side seat into the Kremlin, as the Soviet leaders decide how to force an American surrender. There is a memorable scene when an American official's speech is doctored to make Stark appear like a war monger. It's played at the UN.
This is gripping stuff. It is very 1970s,but that should not put you off.
This is a Cold War thriller that makes you think of the unthinkable. It was written during the time when a nuclear war was quite possible. William Craig takes you inside the White House, so that we can see the debates within President William Mellon Stark's Administration. How is he going to solve this crisis? We are also given a ring side seat into the Kremlin, as the Soviet leaders decide how to force an American surrender. There is a memorable scene when an American official's speech is doctored to make Stark appear like a war monger. It's played at the UN.
This is gripping stuff. It is very 1970s,but that should not put you off.
October 6, 2017
Read back in the 70s
Did Not Finish
July 8, 2025DNF. Cold War thriller that didn’t thrill me. I just wanted to see what it would say about Tashkent…but I didn’t make it that far.
August 26, 2013
I pulled this book off my high school library shelf, thinking of weeding it. Looking inside it I decided to read it first. It's a cold war thrilling. I enjoyed it!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews