Waltzing in the Shadows

[longknife]

I'm looking for someone to give them a quick read.
Or anyone to respond to this.

Johann Straus. Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart. Straußwirtschaften wine gardens. Beer cellars. The Prater with its huge ferris wheel and hectares of parks and gardens. Imperial palaces. Vienna, a gem on the banks of the Danube. An island of neutrality between foes engaged in The Wold War. A mysterious cult with awesome connections.

Bill Daniels happily leaves Washington, DC for his new assignment at the American Embassy. He meets and befriends Ursula Weber, unbeknownst to him a member of the Austrian Security Police, Stapo. Through her, he receives highly sensitive information from an unknown source. That information, when received by the intelligence community, is most upsetting in its accuracy. How does a minor noncom in a small office have access to such stuff? That information deals with events that will change the face of Europe and the Middle East for decades to come.

WALTZING IN THE SHADOWS is an inside look at life in Vienna during the waning years of the Cold War and reminds us of such things as the Gossamer Albatross, ABBA, the DeLorean and The Peanut Farmer versus the rabid rabbit.

Historical fiction at 156,000 words.

[Beethovenfan]

A few quick things. First, it's Johann Strauss and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Gotta make sure your spellings (especially for famous people) are correct. Second, 156,000 words is HUGE! From what I've read, the most a novel should be is 130,000 words, and that's pushing the limit. Most agents won't look at a MS with more than 110,000, especially for a debut author. The reason I know is that I had this same problem. My MS was 155,000 words when I finished. But I quickly learned it was too long and set about to pare it down. It is now down to 125,000 and is so much better, the prose is tighter. Perhaps you could go back and check chapter by chapter to see what could be superfluous description, and unnessessary transitions. Those are what held me up the most. Good luck!