Publisher's Weekly
The most arresting part of this generally humdrum futuristic adventure, which presents a scenario for a Warsaw Pact assault into West Germany in 1989, is the action that follows the eventual invasion. Unfortunately, it is too little, too late. Nearly two-thirds of the book consists of a rather slow-moving, conventional political thriller in which charismatic and powerful West German Chancellor Ernst Rudel pulls Germany out of NATO and plans to develop a German nuclear force, a clear threat to the arms pact negotiated by the American and Soviet leaders. Rudel's actions throw both the U.S. and Soviet leadership into disarray as the balance of power in Europe is seriously altered. Amid defections, assassination plots and high placed Soviet spies within the German government, American CIA agent Paul Brand attempts to head off a nuclear confrontation as the Soviet army begins its push into Germany. Jones's Rubicon One had more pizzaz. (May 5)

Library Journal
Jones has crafted a complicated and highly realistic novel of international espionage and suspense. The title (a perverse allusion to a Nazi plan for the invasion of the Soviet Union) refers to a Russian plan to invade Western Europe. The Russians have placed a high-ranking spy, the foreign minister, in the West German cabinet. A defector's revelation of this treachery precipitates a scandal. The West German chancellor does not resign as expected but stubbornly stays on, and despite everyone's best intentions war inevitably occurs in Europe. As the story of the politics that created the need for Barbarossa Red and the resulting war is so complicated, the cast of characters is large and not one is particularly memorable. However, the detailed scenes are very memorable, compelling, and eerily possible. The intricate political maneuvers are occasionally confusing but constitute a frighteningly real scenario. Recommended. Jean B. Palmer, Phillips Acad. Lib., Andover, Mass.