While Ukraine President was leading Ukrainians in resisting the Russian invasion and inflecting tremendous damage to the Russian war machines, killing tens of thousands of the Russian troops and generals, a plot was underway by the Russian intelligence service to prepare an operation with a code name Terermok, a famous Russian fairy tale, to infiltrate and unstable European societies, and military communities and facilities all over Europe as a way of retaliation and punishment for siding with and supporting Ukraine.
That operation was discovered, by accident, by an American librarian and foiled before it even started by a counter operation with a code name Mitten, a Ukrainian fairy tale, led by the US and a collection of intelligent European agencies, with the assistance of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine. As a result of the continuous Russian losses and brave defense of the Ukrainians, led by an outstanding president, and the failed Terermok operation, the Russian President was ousted and handed to the International Criminal Court to stand trial.
The Ukrainian leader and the American librarian had never met in person during the operation, but they teamed up from a distance to defeat the Russian dictator.
While Ukraine President was leading Ukrainians in resisting the Russian invasion and inflecting tremendous damage to the Russian war machines, killing tens of thousands of the Russian troops and generals, a plot was underway by the Russian intelligence service to prepare an operation with a code name Terermok, a famous Russian fairy tale, to infiltrate and unstable European societies, and military communities and facilities all over Europe as a way of retaliation and punishment for siding with and supporting Ukraine.
That operation was discovered, by accident, by an American librarian and foiled before it even started by a counter operation with a code name Mitten, a Ukrainian fairy tale, led by the US and a collection of intelligent European agencies, with the assistance of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine. As a result of the continuous Russian losses and brave defense of the Ukrainians, led by an outstanding president, and the failed Terermok operation, the Russian President was ousted and handed to the International Criminal Court to stand trial.
The Ukrainian leader and the American librarian had never met in person during the operation, but they teamed up from a distance to defeat the Russian dictator.
Disclaimers
The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S.
Government.
The public release clearance of this publication by the Department of Defense does not imply Department of Defense endorsement or factual accuracy of the
material.
This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Sembach by Said Shafik is a spy-thriller, set in the present, or near to present, day in 2022. The story is based on events in Ukraine and the significance of two civilians, Lisa Ortiz, director of the Brunssum Library in the Netherlands and his counterpart Stacy Wade, a library systems manager in Sembach (a municipality in Germany) who discover a secret Russian plot. Code named "Teremok" after a highly popular fairy tale, the plot details a Russian mission to utilise sleeper cells across multiple European countries to destroy infrastructure and destabilise political governments. The aim? Win the war in Ukraine and overthrow Western powers. Joining forces, Lisa and Stacy work together to raise awareness of the plot and bring justice to the war criminals behind it.
Sadly, this is a book with many faults. Large swathes are frustratingly vague and quick to skip over details. Where the book demands character interaction through multi-layered dialogue, Shafik opts for prose, falling into the trap of "telling, not showing" and leaving the reader withdrawn from the action and starved of crucial detail. Two characters have an affair somewhat randomly in the middle of a chapter; Stacy's wife, Briza, declares she is filing for divorce, yet a page later she is declaring her love and pride for the same man. These are just two examples of poorly executed character and plot development.
In other areas segments read like they are lifted straight from the webpages of Wikipedia, such as in this extract:
...Rail Baltica, a greenfield rail transport infrastructure project to integrate the Baltic States into the European rail network. The project includes five European Union countries – Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and, indirectly, Finland. It will connect Helsinki, Tallinn, Pärnu, Riga, Panevežys, Kaunas, Vilnius, and Warsaw. The Baltic part of the Rail Baltica project is referred to as the Rail Baltica Global Project.
Spelling and grammar also fall victim to author oversight. From the frequent tense changes to poor spelling and sentence structure, it is obvious that Shafik has failed to proofread any element of their work. Take this confusing sentence on spy negotiations:
The American President had to agree to release three ex-Russian spies in American prisons to have the Russian President agree to allow the ex-Russian spy’s family to immigrate to Israel.
The final nail in the coffin? It is not even clear what happens in the end.
It is hard to find any redeeming features of Sembach. As well as addressing the incredibly sensitive topic of the Ukrainian war, the storytelling is poor and the writing quality beyond questionable. It reads strongly of a first draft, rushed through in a bid to get it into print before peace is realised in Europe.
AEB Reviews