Michael Idov

Idov, Michael, (Ground Up (pb, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009) 978-0374531546 [In his debut novel, Idov repudiates traditional immigrant and ethnic tropes and Russian-American clichés, focusing instead on non-ethnic American characters. The narrative depicts characters who grapple with fading cultural roots rather than celebrating them, using Jewish identity as a subtle background layer rather than the central conflict. The novel explores “performance” and “deception”. Mark’s Jewishness is sometimes framed through the lens of ”passing” or pretending to belong to specific social groups, where ethnic markers are just another part of the “fake” or “faux” layers of his New York life. The Jewish identity in the book is often tied to secular intellectualism and the “cosmopolitan ideal” of European coffeehouse culture, which the characters fail to successfully transplant to modern New York.  [Google/AI]

Idov, Michael [The Cormorant Trilogy #1], (The Collaborators [hc, Scribner, 2024] 978-1668055571 [pb, Scribner, 2025] 978-1668055588 [a spy thriller novel blending contemporary espionage with Soviet-era history and focusing on the intersection of modern CIA tradecraft with the legacy of Cold War-era Russian intelligence, featuring a plot that spans from the 1980s to 2021. A key protagonist is Ari Falk, a Jewish CIA field operative. The backstory involves Soviet Jews leaving the USSR in the 1980s. The narrative weaves in the experiences of Russian-speaking immigrants, utilizing the author’s background to provide an authentic, “non-stereotypical” view of post-Soviet Russia and its agents. The book touches upon the history of Jewish refugees fleeing the Soviet Union, using the 1980s-1990s as a backdrop for the characters’ motivations. The title refers not only to the double agents and spies (KGB, GRU, FSB) but also highlights the complex relationships between the characters and their past, including the “collaboration” required to navigate life in the Soviet Union and its aftermath. [Google/AI]

Idov, Michael [The Cormorant Trilogy #2],, (The Cormorant Hunt [hc, Scribner, 2026] 978-1668082287 [Ari Falk is now a disillusioned former CIA officer living in exile in the Republic of Georgia. He previously blew the whistle on a major conspiracy and is recruited for a sensitive undercover mission that requires his specific status as a “disavowed” operative. Falk’s background often informs his jaded, outsider perspective on international loyalty and national identity. Much of the series’ tension is rooted in the “Old World” of Soviet-era secrets and the 1996 Russian elections. This historical context frequently touches on the experiences of the Jewish diaspora within the Soviet intelligence apparatus and their subsequent lives in the West. The themes of exile and being “homeless” in a geopolitical sense (moving between the US, Russia, and Georgia) echo classic themes of the Jewish experience in 20th and 21st-century literature. [Google/AI]