Vincent V. Severski: “Nabór” (“Recruitment”, 2021)

The work

The Polish Literary Bibliography lists “Nabór” (2021, 822 pp.) as the third part of the series, after “Zamęt” and “Odwet” (“Retaliation”), with subject headings including terrorism and Polish, Russian and Swedish intelligence; settings: Iran, Poland, Russia and the USA.¹

In the audiobook description the publisher writes that hostility between Iran and the USA is growing, while in Poland the authoritarian Prime Minister Bolecki returns to power; the Section is disbanded and prosecutors look for dirt on Roman Leski. The former Q Division from “Nielegalni” joins forces with the disbanded Section.³

The real background

The tension between Iran and the USA has a real-world counterpart: on 14 September 2019 missiles and drones struck Saudi oil facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais, temporarily knocking out more than half of Saudi production; Yemen’s Houthis claimed the attack, while the US and Saudi authorities blamed Iran.⁴

The bibliographic headings include Swedish intelligence: according to the IPN catalogue, the author worked from 1988 in the rezidentura in Stockholm, and Sweden is one of the main settings of both his series.^1,5

What is accurate and what is invented

Prime Minister Bolecki, the disbanding of the Section and the plot are fictional; we do not link the characters to real politicians.³