Overview

Cold War history was made in Riga, Latvia when the Soviet Union Minister of Sports made an astonishing statement at a press conference, he and U.S. Olympic Bobsled Coach, Norman Miller held to announce that the Soviet Union Bobsled Team would visit Lake Placid, New York to take part in the 10th anniversary of the 1980 Olympic Games. When asked: ""Who invited the Americans to the Soviet Union?"" The Minister of Sports responded: ""I did not invite the Americans. The Latvian socialist State debated for three months about how to handle the invitation and they made the decision to invite the Americans without first seeking permission from Moscow."" It is believed that this was the first public statement made by a Soviet Official that Latvia would no longer be under Moscow's rule. The Minister of Sports was later executed for crimes against the Soviet Government. The Author, Norman Miller, was smuggled out of Latvia and hidden in the Communist Party Hotel in Tallinn, Estonia for five days then, at night, hidden on a ship and taken to Helsinki, Finland. Fiction often mirrors truth. And you get just as close as you want to be to non-fiction in this fast-paced novel that turned the turmoil surrounding the U.S. Bobsled Federation into shocking international intrigue. The pace is faster than a sled on ice as it races from Lake Placid, New York to the burrow of the CIA at Langley, Virginia to rebelling Latvia and its ancient rift with the Soviet Union during the final days of the Cold War. It's scary enough to set even a seasoned CIA agent's hair on end. Associated Press Reporter Chris Carola didn't know how prophetic he was when he wrote in a 1990 wire story: ""The words are straight out of a spy novel: disinformation, Swiss bank accounts, rendezvous with the Russians, cash transactions that can't be traced... dangerous international activity where one wrong move can spell disaster - or death."" He was referring to the turmoil surrounding the U.S. Bobsled Federation and he hit the target... dead on.

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