During World War II, one of the Soviet Union's most effective tools in repelling the German invasion was the widespread use of highly effective snipers. It is an area about which rather little is known in the West, and so this 1985 memoir by Yevgeni Nikolaev—who was credited with a remarkable 324 kills—comes as a revelation. While providing vivid reminiscences of the defense of Leningrad, Nikolaev's opinionated account is also a window into the mindset of a fanatically committed NKVD agent.