As a book reviewer, one of the best parts of my job is discovering new authors. William Maz was an unknown name to me until The Bucharest Dossier landed in my hands, and I can now say I am a fan.

This international espionage thriller follows Bill Hefflin, a Romanian expat who’s parents brought him to America as a child during the Cold War. After graduating from Harvard, he’s recruited by the CIA as an analyst. His skills are put to the test when he’s asked to return to Bucharest. It’s the start of the bloody 1989 uprising against Nicolae Ceaușescu, the Communist leader of the country.

What unfolds is a complex web of intrigue, in which Hefflin is not just an observer but a key player in a game manipulated by the CIA and the KGB. Amid this political turmoil, Hefflin also harbors a personal quest—to uncover the fate of his childhood sweetheart, Pusha, who disappeared years ago.

Bunny trail alert. I was so fascinated by the historical elements in this novel that I spent longer than necessary researching the facts. Nicolae Ceaușescu was the leader of Romania from 1965 until his overthrow in 1989. He and his wife, who he appointed the first deputy prime minister, lived in opulence as the Romanian population suffered food shortages because Ceausescu exported most of the harvest.

The Ceausescus were arrested during the revolution. Their trial, which began and ended on Christmas Day, lasted less than an hour. The military judge declared both guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced them to death. A firing squad immediately executed them.

I remember seeing horrifying images of children in Romanian orphanages. Beginning in the late 1960s, Ceausescu battled a demographic crisis by banning contraception. He required women to bear at least five children, which resulted in 150,000 children being placed in state-run orphanages.

The Bucharest Dossier is a terrific debut. Its fast-paced plot, coupled with well-integrated historical facts, kept me hooked from beginning to end. Hefflin is a relatable protagonist, making it easy to invest in his journey. Maz’s writing is authentic, drawing from his own experiences growing up in Bucharest under communism.

This espionage thriller is worth your time. I’m looking forward to reading the follow-up, The Bucharest Legacy. 4 stars.

** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a comp of this novel. The opinions are my own.

I am normally a fan of the Espionage genre. However, I found that this novel, though reasonably well written and plotted, just did not hold my interest. Obviously, a novel of this type has a lot of competition, and the challenge to impart true originality must be difficult.

This historical thriller was so interesting! I loved the fast pace and it was so complex! Reading other reviews makes me happy to see that a lot of the information is accurate which makes it even better. I did think the love story was a bit much and not super needed. It was overall very suspenseful and kept me turning the pages.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this title! I am a huge Jason Bourne fan and this totally reminds of that kind of thriller. You will love the characters, the scenery, and the writing…..LOVE the writing!

I dont read many spy thriller and espionage story, but this book successfully rocked my world in the good way. I not even sure I can make proper review to explains how rich this HF to the actual event in Cold War era.

I enjoyed my time reading this book. The writing style compliment the story very well. The plot it self rich and intriguing till the end even with all complicated subplots. I dont know much about real event in the historical details to make opinion about it, but I think the author doing his research and serve the best. I personally love how fast pace the story going on and all interesting characters arc keep me sit on my edge till the end.

Thank you Netgalley and Oceanview Publishing for let me read this amazing copy. I am truly grateful and all thoughts are my own. Published date 15 Mar 2022

This is an absorbing spy-thriller novel set in Cambridge, Massachusetts then Bucharest, Romania during the unrest prior and during the revolution that brings down Ceausescu. Bill Hefflin is Romanian born, raised in Greece, and now living in Cambridge. The murder of his former retired professor begins the story with many subplots that are not difficult to follow. As a CIA analyst, Bill is summoned to Bucharest to meet a KGB informant who will only work with him. As Bill navigates a world of subterfuge and clandestine activities with players who may or may not be trusted. His flawless Romanian language skills play a role in his ability to keep ahead of the game. Bill also uses his time in Romania to search for a long-lost childhood love which adds another layer to the plot. There is so much to this novel including Bill's repeated reinventing of himself and his resulting identity crisis in being born Romanian, then a refugee to Greece and becoming Greek, to then fleeing to the United States and his ability to fit in as an American. This would have been a 5-star read except for coincidences at the end that required too much suspension of belief resulting and a too-tidy ending. The most engaging and interesting parts were the Romanian setting and the historical details and events surrounding the downfall of Ceausescu. This book is a wonderful and worthwhile read.

I liked the history, descriptions and story. However, I found the focus on his lost love distracting; the ending was not plausible. That said, the book was enjoyable.

TIL That It's Pronounced 'Chow-cheh-sk-yoo'

I liked the main character and the setting for this book very much. The historical period, the bloody end of the second half of the Ceausescu regime, is one that I never learned a lot about and seems to be a foreshadowing of the current war between Ukraine and Russia. It's fascinating, as is the double life of the main character, Bill Hefflin.

There were hints of what would happen that tweaked the suspense intensity up, notch by notch. The way the truths were revealed wrapped the story up in a satisfying way. There was a passive tone to the writing at times that slowed down the pacing, but the ambiance created by the author made the book an exciting spy thriller.

I'd like to thank the author, William Maz, for his excellent debut novel, and Meryl Moss's Emily LaSita, and NetGalley for the gift of my advanced reader's copy of the book. I recommend it just as freely to all of my fellow thriller lovers.

This was an extraordinarily good read. I had no idea what to expect as I did not recognize the author, had no knowledge of his previous writings, nor had I received any recommendations from family or friends. I do love historical fiction. This was historic in spades. Exceptionally well researched and for me, most importantly, it was history that I felt was quite inadequate in my own studies over the decades gone by! Shamefully, I could hardly recognize the leader of Romania for all the decades I must have heard about him and the human rights violations and atrocities carried out under his orders. His narcissism and neurosis left me thinking that the Trumps of the world are babes in the words, compared to Ceaucestceau (cannot spell it even now)! Or, compared to Stalin. My go to authors for historical fiction this last year or two has been Robert Harris (especially his Cicero diary novels) and Kate Quinn of the "Rose Code" and 'The Huntress". I cannot choose between the three if I had to decide which of them to read if they all came out with a new title at the same time. I highly recommend this novel. This is my first NetGallery novel.

Well written thriller about the Revolution that overthew Ceausescu, in 1989, with a spy thriller woven in. I only had a very vague idea of the events surrounding the Revolution, this book is an excellent account that also takes in the fall of the Soviet Union, and the geo-politics of the time. The fall of the Soviet Union was a turbulent time, but it also represented a huge opportunity to the West-countries opening up their economies with resources to be exploited, systems to be set up, openings for cosultants to peddle their advice. Romania, however, remained in the iron grip of Ceausescu and his wife, aided by the brutal Securitate. the arrests and tortures increased in their severity, as Romanians, seeing the peaceful handover of power in countries around them , were starting to demand more rights. He was also unpopular with Gorbachev, chastising him in public for pandering to the supposedly American notions of openness and freedom. Maz recounts this recent history, through the perspective of Bill Hefflin, a CIA analyst, who's sent to Bucharest in December 1989, at the behest of an agent he handles. Bill isn't really sure what he's supposed to do, which provides a perfect narrative voice for the reader to get a sense of the confusion and the turmoil. For a debut spy novel, it doesn't require too much suspension of disbelief-Bill doesn't turn into a hyper competent agent overnight and blunders his way through a very confusing situation. ROmania's economic troubles and the rising unrest are captured very well-I dind't know, for instance, that to pay for his massive vanity project, the Presidential Palace, all the grain supplies in the country had been requisitioned for exports, forcing people from districts all over to queue up in BUcharest and other cities for basic provisions. THere were fuel shortages, electricity problems, but nothing deterred Ceausescu from pursuing his course. The triggering event for the uprising was the proposed transfer of a beloved priest, Laszlo Tokes, from his position in TImisoara, for his views challenging the dictatorship. Maz describes this very well, the public demonstrations, the army actions against unarmed civilians, the domino effect this had on the unrest spreading across the country, culminating in the escape of Ceasescu and his wife from the palace by helicopter, the near-farcical journey they took to escape and the eventual showtrial and execution. There are several unexplained events of the revolution-one of the few of the time that turned so violent and led to so many civilian deaths, and MAz takes a line of conjecture to explain those that isn't so implausible, knowing what one does about the CIA and its interference in events across the world. Unlike a lot of other spy novels that cast the Soviet Union as the evil enemy, this book shows how complicit all global powers were when it comes to realpolitik. The love story felt forced, and I could have done without it, knocking off one star for that. This was a gripping read otherwise, and the narrative felt so authentic-specially with the protagonist sharing a similar background to Maz-Greek-ROmanian, fled ROmania for the US , brings a layer of nuance to the story- nations are more diverse and fragmented than we think they are, and origin stories aren't really linear. Highly recommended.

THE BUCHAREST DOSSIER by William Maz is an international espionage thriller with romantic elements that is an amazing debut read. Intriguing and captivating from start to finish.

CIA analyst Bill Hefflin receives a summons from his undercover asset “Boris”, who will only deal with him, that he must come to Bucharest. Romania is on the brink of revolution in 1989 and while Bill has mixed feelings, since he spent his first eight years in Romania as a child, he has never been given bad information from this asset in the past.

If the political turmoil is not enough, Bill is also trying to find a lost childhood love. Bill finds himself in a political tinderbox and not knowing who to trust as he navigates the Romanian secret police, the KGB and his own CIA bosses.

I could not put this book down and I was very surprised to learn it was this author’s debut. Mr. Maz made me feel as if I was right there in the middle of the action. The historical facts were well integrated into the plot even as the plot has many twists and surprises. This espionage thriller also has a love story weaving through the story which was well written and left the reader with a satisfying ending. This book gave me everything I want in a fast-paced, exciting, one-sitting thriller read.

I highly recommend this thriller! I am looking forward to reading what is next from this author.

A Cold War spy thriller that is also part love story set in Romania during the beginnings of their Revolution (1989) and a masterful set-up by a debut author.

Bill Hefflin is a Romanian immigrant living in the US. He is eventually hired by the CIA as an analyst and interacts with a KGB asset, Boris, who requests to meet Bill in Bucharest, at the height of the unrest.

This is where it gets heady. This is an espionage thriller. No one can be trusted and everyone is spying (US/Romania/Russia). Combine that with this being a weird homecoming for Hefflin who remembers his long-lost love and the ensuing flashbacks of his history in Romania.

War and authoritarianism is rarely ever a good read but it had the right blend of history, spy intrigue, and romance. I appreciated that I didn’t need to know a lot about Romanian history to follow the novel and I liked that the story kept evolving. We see what President Ceausescu has done to Romania as an authoritarian tyrant and one of the last countries to fall from communism. We see the Revolution from Hefflin’s eyes: a Romanian home on a mission but on the outside looking in.

And we see Hefflin look for his long-lost love amidst it all. The romance was really the last part I didn’t really need. It was just enough, though, that it didn’t take away from the intrigue and thrills. I loved how everything eventually wrapped up and all the twists it took to get there.

If you are into spy thrillers at all, give this one a read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I requested to read and review this Historical, Mystery Thriller because of its description of life in Romania under communism with its totalitarian dictator Ceausesu and his wife Elena. I was very curious about this so grabbed at the chance and was not disappointed.

The fear, the injustices, the insatiable network of securitate; the spies spying on spies, enough to make one sweat under the collar. Reading about this as a work of fiction give quite a jolt. How much worse to have had to live under the strain of this atmosphere in reality. I believe Maz captured this to very realistic effect and the accuracy of history.

Bill Hefflin, the protagonist, is a Romanian immigrant of Greek lineage (he thinks) who finds himself in America and eventually hired into the CIA. His contact Boris orchestrates Bill's reluctant return to Romania as history in the making was unfolding in the form of the Romanian Revolution of 1989. He is there as a diplomat, a cultural attache for the Americans.

This book also is one of romance. Bill secretly tries to find his childhood love Pusha and opens other cans of worms. If he does find her, then what about Catherine who tears at his heartstrings? With all the horrendousness and intrique in that country at that time, could love actually prevail? If so, which love?

The mystery, secrets, lies, coverups, and traitorous manoeuvers, whom to trust and whom not to? These kept me on the edge of my chair, holding my breath, crying and even laughing, living in the moments with Bill, Catherine, Boris, Irina, dear Tanti Bobo the Gypsy, Stanton, Avery and others.

The author himself, William Maz, was born in Romania so his connections with the country more than likely aid and abett how he writes, instilling much firsthand authenticity into the work of his pages. Therefore, I emphatically declare I found this whole story exceedingly satisfying, having gotten a 'taste' of what I'd wished for, except for too many bedroom activity details. So glad Romanians now have the coveted freedom they had wished for and desparately needed. I have learned much and believe other readers will be as deeply fascinated as I have been, from cover to cover.

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

March 2022

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the review copy sent by NetGalley and the publisher.

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My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Oceanview Publishing for an advanced copy of this espionage novel.

Spy thrillers today are more about technology and gunplay, less on the human factor, or even the human cost. Actually this can be said about real world diplomacy and espionage. The Bucharest Dossier, a debut novel by William Maz is heavy on both the people who find themselves taking part in the Great Game, the crushing toll of a totalitarian government, who to trust, who not to trust, and in the end who is deceiving who.

Taking place during the Romanian Revolution in December of 1989, an analyst, Bill Hefflin, at the CIA is tasked by his bosses to go to Bucharest to meet with an agent who only wants to deal with him for reasons unknown to anybody. Hefflin is returning to a country that he fled from as a child, a past he has attempted to hide by changing his name, preferring the anonymity of a plain name rather than standing out as an immigrant. So a man who is used to secrets. A target for both the KGB and the Securitate, the Romanian police Hefflin attempts to meet with his contact, and search for the woman he had to leave behind when his family fled years before.

The book is very good, with enough tradecraft and terms to keep the armchair spy happy, but with a story that is deeper than just a simple spy story. The country is collapsing, and the people, while knowing what they had was not that good, are as scared of the future that is being thrust on them. Mr. Maz gives a good sense of what people could be thinking and feeling, and yet the story does not drag or get sidelined. The characters are very fleshed out, with real aspirations and motivations, even the supporting characters, who could be just in the story to move the plot along, are interesting. The main character never loses that alien aspect either. Is he a self- created American, Greek where his family first fled, or Romanian. Where do his loyalties lies.

Fans of Le Carré, Joseph Kanon, and Alan Furst will definitely enjoy this novel, not just because of the sense of place, but because the human element is just as important as the espionage element. A very good debut novel from Mr. Maz, and I can't wait to read more by him.

This is the author’s debut novel. The story is set during the Romanian rebellion. So you can imagine the scenes already. Action packed and bloody. 😅

Of course some romance is thrown here and there. I found that cute in between the political drama.

So if you are into spy thrillers, rebellious landscape and some historical perspective, this book is for you.

However, this genre is relatively new for me. I normally don’t indulge on this type. It was a good experience for me reading it. Just that the politics involved is really not my cup of tea.

Thank you for the gifted copy Meryl Moss in exchange for an honest review.

Unhappy expat CIA analyst, Bill Heffrin has unsuccessfully tried to erase the memories of his Romanian childhood, including his first love, Pusha. In 1989 Heffrin reluctantly returns to his native Romania at the insistence of Boris, the mysterious KGB asset that feeds him intelligence reports. The world knows that in a instant revolution could erupt and topple Romania’s communist government.

His search for his lost love, Pusha clouds his judgement causing him to misstep badly; furthermore Heffrin behaves rather naively, until several life threatening incidents bring out the spy in him.

The novel portrays international espionage very well. There are plenty of twists and turns in the story, some more believable than others. In addition the novel is well written and fast paced. The author’s attention to details of the corrupt Ceausescu government and the violent revolution provide needed historical background. However, the romantic angle is so unlikely, it’s ridiculous; nevertheless, William Maz‘s novel entertains.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Oceanview Publishing for an advanced copy.

Read this for a look at life in Romania before and during the fall of Communism, not for spycraft as some have suggested. There are so many things wrong with the underpinnings of the plot - a Romanian born CIA analyst sent to meet a KGB asset in Romania- that it is impossible for me to read it with any degree of seriousness (blame Jack Ryan for a lot of this). There's also a love story. I'm sure that some will greatly enjoy this but it wasn't for me. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

As I was reading THE BUCHAREST DOSSIER, an historical novel of the Cold War, a hot war broke out in Ukraine. Surreal doesn't begin to describe what I felt.

The events described in THE BUCHAREST DOSSIER evoked memories of what the world was like in the 1980s and 90s. The George H. W. Bush administration, the faltering U.S.S.R., and dictators oppressing the people of Eastern Europe. The realism is palpable when reading the names Bush, Gorbachev, and Ceaușescu. It was a time of changing politics and revolution. Enter CIA analyst Bill Hefflin who has his own personal KGB asset sending him intel to help the Western cause. Although they've never met, Hefflin and Boris communicate through dead drops, and Boris's intel is always good. At the height of unrest in Romania, Boris asks for a face to face, and Hefflin is given authorization to go out into the field. Let the spy games begin.

Hefflin, a native speaker of Romanian, born in Bucharest, tells his own story in flashbacks to 1980. His life and the events unfolding in Romania in 1989 make up a beguiling story of one man's search for his identity and a long-lost love.

Revolution and war are horrible. The devastation of human bodies is sickening. Bill Hefflin experiences the horror and devastation first hand during his foray into the field, and through him I experienced them as well. To read of little value placed on human life is demoralizing, yet it is an ongoing fact of life. William Maz has drawn upon true events and his own life (be sure to read the Author's Note) to write the reality of the human condition.

A Cold War espionage thriller set in Bucharest on the eve of the Romanian Revolution. This book has everything you want in a spy novel from clandestine meetings and listening devices to shadowy figures in trench coats. I really enjoyed that it wasn't too convoluted or required the reader to know too much Romanian history to follow along. The perfect espionage thriller for beginners to the genre.

The Bucharest Dossier is a different espionage story as it also contains romance and it has been built on real past events in Romania's history. The Ceausescu family governed Romania with iron hands leading the country into poverty and recession whilst the leading class got richer and richer. It was one of the last communist countries to depose its tyrant in the 20th century and the Ceausescu couple were killed after summary court proceedings. William Maz writes with passion about his home country and injects an incredibly well thought world of corruption, deceit, lies, and crimes into the real facts. Having witnessed the demise of the communist/tyrannical powers in the latter part of the 20th century, I was delighted in reading a story with such a good plot involving those facts.