Cloud Cover

". . . incredibly entertaining and thrilling . . . If there really is a spine-tingling category, this book wins it hands-down. Readers who miss that gripping, chilling writing that comes from a lost time period of pure mystery and suspense will curl up in a chair and literally ignore everyone for hours, just to ride the roller coaster with these incredible characters. A breath of fresh air, this is a definite keeper!
      — Amy Lignor, Suspense Magazine

". . . a strong addition to spy thriller collections. Much recommended."
      — Small Press Bookwatch: June 2013.
The Mystery/Suspense Shelf, Midwest Book Review

"The seemingly disparate threads of this Cold War–era spy thriller come together and reach a boiling point in Italy in 1984. Michael Higgins, a librarian at the American Institute Library in Trieste, Italy, happens to be in the right place at the right time to assist NATO intelligence in passing along field agent messages. Never trained as a spy, Higgins soon gets a crash course in espionage when his field agents turn up dead and his own life is threatened. With unexpected help (and romance) from Canadian intelligence agent Fae Avadek, Higgins flees Trieste in search of answers, finding stolen missiles and betrayals along the way. It becomes apparent that someone is orchestrating a war, and Higgins and Avadek may be the only ones able to stop it.
      — Melissa DeWild, Library Journal

"Terpening knows how to crank a narrative engine … When he gets his storytelling hooks into you, the pleasure derives from following his protagonist as he navigates an imbroglio… For me, there was greater reward in watching nerdy Higgins and lovely Fae fall in love. … Such scenes are nicely conveyed and always laced with encroaching danger and erotic anticipation.
…
Terpening deftly renders a few doomed-to-die minor characters, too—like the drugged-out MP at the missile-training center in Arizona who facilitates an apocalyptic threat, and the KGB station chief in Belgrade who nearly unravels the looming conspiracy … [which ends with] a hair-raising climax …

If you’re a fan of solid thrillers, Cloud Cover will satisfy and serve to remind you why '80s-era espionage novels were so popular—and why they’re widely read today. Terpening deserves a huge readership, proving he can match storytelling skills with the best of today’s Clancy-brand purveyors.
      – Jarret Keene, Tucson Weekly, December 19, 2013.

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