42 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL As an FSO with the State Department, Jeff Elzinga served in Tunisia and Malawi. He then spent more than 20 years as a college instructor, retiring in 2018 as emeritus professor of writing at Lakeland University in Wisconsin. His debut novel, The Distance Between Stars (2020), was a finalist for the Midwest Book Award. Diplomatic Tangle Tim Enright, Birch Forest Publishing, 2024, $18.95/paperback, e-book available, 398 pages. As the U.S. prepares for high-stakes nuclear negotiations with Iran, diplomat Ben Brownwell finds himself navigating a labyrinth of political ambition and betrayal. A leak from within his own ranks threatens to undermine the fragile talks. For British intelligence officer Kate Sinclair, the stakes are both personal and professional. Her investigation into Iranian sleeper cells in Europe reveals a chilling connection to a broader plot. Ben and Kate must work together to prevent the negotiations from ending in disaster. With the clock ticking down, a U.S. senator becomes a target, and the balance of power teeters on the edge. In a world where secrets are weapons and alliances are fragile, Ben and Kate must confront not only their adversaries but the limits of their own principles. Tim Enright joined the State Department as a Foreign Service officer in 2005 and has served in Iraq, Russia, the UAE, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Albania. He is currently studying Mandarin and preparing to move to Guangzhou in 2026. He is also the author of Proportional Response (2021). Black Sun Rising Otho Eskin, Meridian Editions, 2025, $19.95/paperback, e-book available, 296 pages. When Washington, D.C., homicide detective Marko Zorn’s partner is murdered, his search for justice leads him to Black Sun, a violent neo-Nazi movement built from the ruins of World War II. Their goal: unleash a catastrophic attack that will plunge the nation into chaos. To stop them, Marko must outwit a woman known as the Bride of the Apocalypse, navigate the treacherous ambitions of two of the world’s richest and most ruthless men, and confront a conspiracy stretching from Washington’s corridors of power to the city’s shadowy underworld. Can Marko save the country from annihilation? Otho Eskin joined the Foreign Service in 1961 and retired in 1982. He served in Damascus, Belgrade, Reykjavík, Berlin, and Washington, D.C. This is the fourth book in his well-received Marko Zorn series (though each can also be read alone), including The Reflecting Pool (2020), Head Shot (2021), and Firetrap (2024). Also a playwright, Eskin has had work professionally produced in Washington, New York, and Europe. Becoming Virginia Tatiana Gfoeller-Volkoff, Outskirts Press, 2024, $47.95/hardcover, e-book available, 260 pages. Brilliant young psychiatrist Jane, traumatized by a sexual assault, is following the trail of a young man, Gerald, who died mysteriously. She crisscrosses the United States looking for his relatives and friends, searching for clues to his personality and the reason for his sudden demise. The aftermath of the Vietnam War, class and race relations in the Deep South, drug addiction, and patriotism all provide useful hints. As Jane searches, she delves into her complicated relationship with her own mother and her anguish over not being able to conceive a child. Tatiana Gfoeller-Volkoff served for 33 years in the Foreign Service, with assignments in Poland, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the Soviet Union, Belgium, Russia, Turkmenistan, and as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan. She has taught at Georgetown University and is the author of another novel, A Simple Love (2021). Only Now We Are: A Novel Nathan Kato-Wallace, independently published, 2025, $17.99/paperback, e-book available, 377 pages. The Omicron is feeling lost, and not even the reverence of his followers distracts him from the sense he’s left something behind. His best friend, the Mouth, convinces him to retrace the steps that led to his elevation as the supreme leader of this new society. (Continued from page 39)
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