War of the Rats

Stalingrad, August 1942 - the brutal siege of the city begins.

Through this twisted carnage stalk two men - one Russian, one German - each the top sniper in their respective armies. These two marksmen are equally matched in both skill and tenacity. And each has his own mission....

The young Russian sniper's credo of "one man, one bullet" has established his reputation as the Red army's top long-distance assassin. Nicknamed the Hare, he's been put in charge of an impromptu sniper school, training both men and women to kill with chilling precision. To counter this threat, the Headmaster, leader of the Nazis' elite sniper school, is flown to Stalingrad. Each has been given similar orders - to find and kill his counterpart. And the extraordinary duel begins....

Complicating matters is an American woman, Tania Chernova, trapped in Russia at the start of the war, who has come to Stalingrad from the Russian resistance. Seeking vengeance against the German army, the defiant American joins the Hare's team of snipers, becoming one of his most talented assassins - and possibly his greatest weakness.

An electrifying novel based on a true story, this is the harrowing tale of two adversaries who will know each other intimately by the climax of their own private war; two soldiers whose story is the saga of Stalingrad itself and whose fortunes will help decide the fate of a world at war.

"Robbins does a brilliant job of dissecting the unique mindset and steely emotions that snipers must possess and painting the battle scenes ... he presents a riveting account of a battle within a battle, and the sniper motif proves an ideal vehicle to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of both sides."--"Publishers Weekly" "A great novel of one of the epic battles of all time: Stalingrad."--W.E.B. Griffin "White-knuckle tension as the two most dangerous snipers in Europe hunt each other through the hell of Stalingrad. Immensely exciting and terribly authentic."--Frederick Forsyth, author of The Day of the Jackal and The Fist of God "I devoured it. The reporting and writing are amazing, and the snipers' duel, with its layers of subtle technique and imagined motivation, is suspenseful and powerful. It's a very good portrait of one of this century's most important and terrible battles, and probably the most intense urban conflict in history."--Mark Bowden, author of "Black Hawk Down" "Strikingly original--a novel so agonizingly true that a historian would be proud of it. The authenticity of Robbins' characters, the accuracy of his military detail, and the immediacy of his writing all bring the hellish combat of Stalingrad to vivid, gritty life....Here is a book written with the art and understanding that few war novels can approach."--Gary Solis, professor of law at West Point and author of "Son Thang: An American War Crime" "Engrossing...Few suspense thrillers evoke the raw immediacy of War of the Rats. It takes reading only to page four to find it difficult to put down."--Stanley Weintraub, author of "The Last Great Victory: The End of World War II"

 Be the first to write a customer review