Freedom Bridge: A Cold War Thriller

“Brilliant! A plot with more twists than barbed wire. Vivid characters. Life-and-death stakes. A provocative political theme. Erika Holzer delivers everything that a thriller fan could possibly want in this revised edition of her novel Double Crossing.”

“Superb Once in a very long while, a book comes along that transcends its genre, a book like "The Spy That Came In From the Cold." Such a book is Erika Holzer's new entry, "Freedom Bridge." It started out as a reworking of an earlier book, "Double Crossing," but along the way, it morphed from a Cold War thriller into a blistering historical saga, sizzling with ideas and unforgettable characters and action enough for everyone. Have at it. Pick it up; you won't be able to put it down.”

“Compelling! I just finished reading Erika Holzer's compelling thriller, Freedom Bridge. I could not put it down. I kept saying, "One more chapter, one more chapter-- no, just one more." I cannot remember the last time I read a book in a single sitting. Holzer's ingenious story of man's quest for freedom is full of deviously clever twists and turns, and is told with such detailed clarity that I had the feeling that she personally witnessed the events she describes. Her characters are drawn in such depth that I felt like she had known them since childhood. Her heroes are truly heroic and her villains are authentically despicable. I would love to comment on her tear-inducing ending, but it would be a "spoiler," so the readers will have to experience it for themselves. They won't be disappointed.”

[The following reviews are of Double Crossing.]

"A cracking good yarn. . . . an intensity, a passion unusual in espionage novels"

"Erika Holzer's Double Crossing is crammed with wonderful characters and charged with atmosphere. There is no purpose in comparing Holzer to the usual best-selling authors--one senses that others will soon be compared to her."

“A spectacular twist on the old Iron Curtain escape story. . . . There is a wealth of detail about daily life in a suspicious society, along with neatly sketched characters.”

“Both grand entertainment and grim education in the realities of Soviet-American relations. . . . It has all the excitement, authenticity, and atmosphere that fans of Higgins, Ludlum, or Follett could ask for.”

“This nail-biting anti-Soviet thriller has everything going for it—devious plotting, vivid and multidimensional characterizations, and judicious selectivity. Double Crossing succeeds both as dandy entertainment and a subtle novel of ideas.”

“The novel's theme is man's profound need for personal liberty . . . the story of a Russian doctor’s lifelong ambition to flee the Soviet Union. But nothing is quite what it seems in this tense and tangled tale. There are chilling episodes in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, harrowing encounters inside KGB headquarters, moving scenes with hopeless victims of the system, and a bullet-ridden climax at the hem of the Iron Curtain.”

“Erika Holzer, a romantic, is also a tough-minded realist. She distinguishes between good and evil but lets Kiril Andreyev’s story make her point. If you like spy thrillers or novels of ideas—or if you simply want a realistic portrait of life behind the barbed wire—Double Crossing will haunt you long after its final explosive moment.”

“With background and character as rich as the writing of John Le Carré, Erika Holzer’s Double Crossing adds plot and pacing that defy the reader to put it down.”

“Once in a while, a novel of compelling power thrusts its way to the surface. What lifts Double Crossing far above the standard espionage thriller takes more than crisp storytelling. Holzer dramatizes ideas in a different, near-visceral way as she examines values and conflicting ideologies in each wrenching plot twist and the story builds to a nearly unbearable pressure-point of tension.”

“Double Crossing, Erika Holzer's realistic depiction of the human condition in Soviet Russia and East Germany is played against the backdrop of man's endless quest for freedom. This well-crafted espionage story is a grimly accurate portrayal of the terror that rules the lives of the millions of victims of the Soviet slave empire.”

“In Erika Holzer’s novel, Double Crossing, the plotting is intricate and taut, the dialogue neat and pointed, the language nicely crafted . . . Double Crossing is a thriller and a moral fable, served up with an engaging restraint.”

“I recommend Erika Holzer's Double Crossing — a good mix of spy-story entertainment and education in world politics.”

“A highly sophisticated plot is presented against a backdrop that captures the typical atmosphere of East-West ‘dialogue,’ with its usual doubletalk, shrewd Soviet intrigues, and pathetic attempts by the West to appease the ever-hungry East. The characters, plot, and background are depicted with such clarity and truthfulness that one can easily see why our world is in such a deplorable state, lost somewhere between physical destruction and spiritual slavery. Most of the people described in the novel are unable to understand their Eastern brothers' passion for freedom . . . as we normally do not appreciate the air until we are deprived of it. The author should be particularly praised for her amazingly accurate description of everyday life in the Soviet bloc countries — remarkable for someone who has never lived there.”

“In the face of almost universal indifference, Ms. Holzer is an exception. Her book makes a considerable contribution to better understanding of our personal responsibility in the biggest human tragedy of our time.”

“I enjoyed your engrossing novel, Double Crossing.”

“Yesterday, which was Sunday, I picked up Double Crossing about five in the evening to glance through it and before I knew it, it was a little after midnight and I had finished it. It is a book you can't put down — well-written, and with an exceedingly interesting plot. A fascinating piece of work that should be very, very successful. I will treasure it in my library.”

“A splendid espionage story. . . . High suspense, good writing, believable characters—and a climax that made me very, very glad that I was born in God’s country”

“Erika Holzer's dramatic, exciting novel should be ‘must reading’for those who believe the Soviet Union has any other objective than world domination and enslavement of us all. Double Crossing is an intensely human story. Yet the scenes within the USSR — familiar to any who have spent time there — are grimly accurate.”