Table of Contents
About The Book
Slow Horses meets Red Sparrow in this “sharp, freshly conceived, [and] thoroughly entertaining” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) spy thriller featuring a brilliant young intelligence officer and a troubled heiress who stumble into a global conspiracy that pits present-day Russia against the CIA.
Combining realistic thrills with sophisticated spycraft and witty dialogue, The Collaborators delivers a gut-punch answer to the biggest geopolitical question of our time: how, exactly, did post-Soviet Russia turn down the wrong path?
Crisscrossing the globe on the way to this shocking revelation are disaffected millennial CIA officer Ari Falk, thrown into a moral and professional crisis by the death of his best asset; and brash, troubled LA heiress Maya Chou, spiraling after the disappearance of her Russian American billionaire father. The duo’s adventures take us to both classic and surprising locales—from Berlin, to Latvia, Belarus, and an abandoned technopark outside Moscow.
Dynamic, fast-paced, and filled with captivating details that provide a window into a secretive world, The Collaborators is a first-rate thriller “with a propulsive plot and fantastic twists” (Chris Pavone, author of The Expats) that pays homage to both meanings of “intelligence.”
Reading Group Guide
Introduction
Ari Falk is burned out. He’s been toiling away as a CIA operative in Latvia for most of his adult life, feeding incriminating evidence to Russian dissidents in the hopes of tarnishing the Kremlin’s reputation and bolstering the resistance—except the country is either too corrupt or too desensitized to care about the damning revelations and, most of the time, his informants end up in worse condition than before.
Though he’s young and incredibly bright, Falk is on the verge of an early retirement when his best Russian asset is suddenly killed and the investigation into his death reveals increasingly puzzling questions. Across the world in Los Angeles, Maya Chou, a troubled twenty-three-year-old heiress, is launching her own amateur investigation into the supposed suicide of her billionaire Russian father. It’s not long before their paths converge and Maya and Falk form an unlikely duo, teaming up to take down anyone—from the Kremlin to the CIA—who stands between them and the truth.
Crisscrossing the globe from Belarus to Rome to Los Angeles to Moscow, The Collaborators delivers a gut-punch answer to the biggest geopolitical question of our time: How, exactly, did post-Soviet Russia turn down the wrong path, and what might have been done to stop it?
Topics & Questions for Discussion
1) In his capacity as a CIA agent, Ari Falk feeds compromising evidence to Russian dissidents and helps them tarnish the reputation of Russian leaders. Do you think it’s okay for one country to attempt to influence the political outcomes and leadership of another sovereign nation? Why or why not?
2) Anton Basmanny is a particularly reckless Russian dissident, using YouTube and other social media channels to expose and humiliate Russian officials. Do you think this type of resistance is admirable or foolish? How has social media changed the nature of political resistance?
3) Ari Falk often internalizes his professional mishaps as deeply personal failures. For example, on page 25, he laments, “The reality of his career-long failure was hitting him all at once. Anton’s humiliation was his own. Every asset he ran straight into prison or exile, every young Russian whose back he watched the Motherland break for the sin of wanting things to be a little better, all of it came down to this.” What do you make of Falk’s relationship to his work? For those whose work is truly a life-or-death matter, how can they separate themselves from their professional failures and successes? What other professions might struggle with similar problems?
4) On pages 42–43, CIA Deputy Director Rex Harlow says, “1940 . . . The war’s been going on for a year. Auschwitz already operational. And here, in Berlin, a guy sits one mile from the Reichstag, painstakingly building the world’s largest weevil.” What does Harlow mean by this? Is “building a weevil” a good thing or a bad thing? How might this phrase be applied to global events today?
5) On page 57, Maya Chou says to her mother about her father, “Don’t you realize? It’s always been about the money with him. He never loved us, Mom.” Do you think she is right? What do you think about Paul Obrandt’s decisions—were they noble or were they selfish?
6) What do you make of Ari and Maya’s partnership? What does each of them provide the other?
7) On page 97, Alan Keegan of FleaCollar remarks, “Institutions can’t be moral. Countries can’t be moral. Only people can.” Do you agree with this opinion? Can you think of some examples from the book that exemplify this idea?
8) On page 157, Cormorant asks Paul Obrandt “Are humans, by and large, good or evil?” How do you think Ari would answer this question? How would Maya? What do you think, after finishing the book?
9) On page 159, Cormorant says to Paul Obrandt, “Most of the time, in most of the places, the light is under attack. On a rare occasion, however, the enlightened get to turn the tables. And that’s the short moment when good things can get done—before humanity defaults back to its worst instincts.” Do you agree with this sentiment? If so, do you think it justifies what Paul, Harlow, and Cormorant tried to do?
10) Consider Rex Harlow’s confession on page 226 and the “Faustian” deal he speaks about. Does the end justify the means of this deal? Who else makes Faustian deals or sacrifices in the book? Are they worth it?
11) On page 229, Emily, Maya’s mother, says of love, “Where I come from, we believe in love too. But we also believe that throwing your life away for it is not honorable, it’s selfish.” Which of the characters in this book throw their life away for love? Do you think their actions are honorable or selfish?
12) If you were alive during the Cold War, what do you remember most vividly about that time? What was your impression of Russia and its citizens, and how has that changed over time? If you weren’t alive then, did you learn anything new about the Cold War from The Collaborators?
Enhance Your Book Club
1) Paul Obrandt grows up, partially, in a refugee camp in Ladispoli, Italy. Research the Ladispoli refugee camps of the 1980s and find out more about what the Soviet refugees were fleeing from and what life was like in the camps.
2) Idov uses lots of spy slang in the book: spookshop, KGB, Spetsnaz, Aquarium, GRU, Unit 29155, SVR, FSB, and MSS, to name a few. Look up each of these terms and make a dictionary to reference in your book club discussions.
3) Michael Idov is not just an author, he’s also a screenwriter. Watch his movie The Humorist and see if he explores any of the same themes that he does in The Collaborators.
About The Author
Michael Idov is a novelist, director, and screenwriter. A Latvian-born American raised in Riga under Soviet occupation, he moved to New York after graduating from the University of Michigan. Michael’s writing career began at New York magazine, where his features won three National Magazine Awards, and he has also been the editor-in-chief of GQ Russia. He is also the author of Ground Up and Dressed Up for a Riot. Michael has worked on numerous film and TV projects, including Londongrad, Deutschland 83, Leto, and The Humorist. He and his wife and screenwriting partner, Lily, divide their time between Los Angeles, Berlin, and Portugal.
Product Details
- Publisher: Scribner (November 19, 2024)
- Length: 272 pages
- ISBN13: 9781668055595
Raves and Reviews
“What the ever expanding world of espionage fiction needs, it turns out, is a Yale-educated Millennial field operative who dresses in Weezer t-shirts and knows his way around a semi-automatic. . . . [The Collaborators is a] slim, well-paced, deceptively complex novel of American and Russian intelligence. . . . a novel as cool as it is accomplished, that knits together action, tradecraft and quippy dialogue with flair." —Vogue
"[A] globe-trotting spy adventure . . . Idov balances modern-day intrigue with Cold War flashbacks, tracing spy bloodlines from the former Soviet Union into today." —Paste magazine
“Idov gathers stories from the headlines and blends them into a hipster spy smoothie.” —The Times (UK), Named a Best Thriller of the Year
“A cutthroat international financial scheme with grave political implications . . . Unlike most spy fiction, it's driven in the liveliest sense by young characters who reflect their generation. Falk, a millennial who wears Weezer tees, and Maya, who was up for a part in a Peacock vampire series, are an irresistible pairing. . . . Sharp, freshly conceived, thoroughly entertaining spy fiction.” —Kirkus (starred review)
"The Collaborators is a terrific espionage thriller with a propulsive plot and fantastic twists, but what really sets this book apart is the writing, sparkling on every page." —Chris Pavone, New York Times bestselling author of The Expats and Two Nights in Lisbon
"Compulsively readable, with more twists than a bar full of martinis, The Collaborators takes a deep dive into global espionage, what-ifs, and the things we do for those we love." —I. S. Berry, Edgar Award-winning author of The Peacock and The Sparrow
"This is a hell of an espionage thriller—thoroughly modern and frighteningly relevant, yet with clear reverence for the genre’s roots. This book has it all—memorable and well-drawn characters, globe-spanning locales full of fascinating and authentic detail, and a complex plot that unfolds at just the right pace. Idov’s prose is first-rate—concise, colorful, and insightful. He is a writer who understands the power of life’s small details, which adds another layer of texture to this highly entertaining novel. I did not want to put this book down." —Alex DeMille, New York Times bestselling author of Blood Lines
"I was completely charmed by Ari and Maya, the hero and heroine of this novel, who are just as irreverent as they are brilliant. The Collaborators is a refreshingly fun update to twenty-first century spy fiction, a novel that delivers modern thrills as well as the classic satisfactions of the genre. This book is smart, stylish, and propulsive from the very first page. I can't wait to see what Michael Idov writes next." —Anna Pitoniak, author of The Helsinki Affair
“If you are in the mood for a high-stakes global espionage novel, with secret agents jet-setting all over the world, you have come to the right place. . . . cleverness and subterfuge abound, followed by a believable, real-world sort of denouement. PS: Idov is a screenwriter in addition to being a novelist, and this book has silver screen written all over it.” —BookPage
“A ripping gem of a novel. . . . Propulsively paced, and containing as much humor, romance, philosophy, and whimsy as classic spy-thriller action, this brilliant novel will charm readers and linger long after its final pages. . . . Idov's intelligent, emotive spy novel is funny and sweet, as well as blood-soaked; clever and riveting in its plot twists; and focused on idiosyncratic characters first and foremost. . . . Entertaining, rocketing, and unforgettable, The Collaborators is not to be overlooked." —Shelf Awareness
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