Vincent V. Severski: “Niewierni” (The Unfaithful; vol. 2 of the “Nielegalni” series)

Work

According to the publisher’s description, a secret meeting in a Warsaw hotel draws a Polish intelligence team led by Konrad Wolski into a case that could alarm the services of the great powers. The threat comes from Safir as-Salam – a Polish citizen in al-Qaeda and the target of many agencies – and the threads converge in Sweden, where the services are interested in a gifted hacker and anti-globalist.^1,2

The real background

The note in the 2019 edition states that Vincent V. Severski is Włodzimierz Sokołowski, a former intelligence officer and retired colonel. The 2026 description adds that for years he worked abroad under an assumed identity.^1,2

Al-Qaeda and international terrorism are a real backdrop: under the Act, identifying international terrorism is among the tasks of the Foreign Intelligence Agency, which operates primarily abroad.^3,4

Sweden, where the threads converge, is no accident: according to the IPN catalogue, from 1988 the author was an operational officer at the rezidentura in Stockholm, under cover as a second secretary at the embassy.⁵

What is true and what is invented

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesThe publisher describes the novel as “inspired by real events” but does not say which events; we have found no source that identifies them. The author himself says that he does not describe real operations directly, but only makes sure that everything is “possible”.^1,6

The characters, Department Q and the conspiracy are fiction.