The Collaborators (2024) is a contemporary espionage thriller novel that follows two unlikely souls whose tasks eventually converge. Ari Falk is a disillusioned young CIA officer and Maya Chou is a wealthy, troubled twenty-three-year-old born of a Russian-American billionaire father who apparently committed suicide.
The CIA has tasked Ari to Riga, Latvia. His cover is that of a media investor. His job is to support Russian opposition journalists trying to uncover and publicize the activities of bad actors in the Kremlin. His most important asset is Anton Basmanny, a Russian blogger with viral videos that expose corruption among the power elite of Latvia. Anton is abducted following a suspicious diversion of his flight. Ari sets out to determine who ordered the flight to divert and whether Anton is alive. Anton’s abduction gets connected to the suicide of billionaire financier Paul Obrandt.
Maya refuses to believe that her father killed himself. While investigating his business affairs, she finds evidence that his death is connected to something much larger. Eventually, these two investigations, despite differences in motivations and backgrounds, each quest is destined to intersect.
Ari and Maya sift through wealthy Russian businessmen, intelligence agencies, political influence operations, and historical events. The investigation skips through Riga, Istanbul, Berlin, Marrakesh, and Moscow; flashbacks gradually reveal the connections between historical relationships and the current conspiracy. In the end, the reader sees this as more that an espionage tale, but a look at how the post-Soviet Russia developed its own political and financial system and the role played by Western governments.
This seems authentic primarily due to Idov’s personal history with this part of the word. His experience as an editor and screenwriter creates a believable world of intelligence operations, media manipulation, oligarchic wealth, and contemporary Russian politics. Ari is no Bond or Borne. He’s intelligent but also tired and uncertain of the masters on both side of the game.
Maya plays well off Ari due to her lack of espionage experience. She goes off half-cocked adding both humor and emotional tension. I will say that this is complicated and layered with all its speaking parts, timelines, and conspiracies.
Betting many will find this intelligent and entertaining with believable characters, sharp political commentary is a modern view of espionage where social media and finances can be every bit as powerful as humint and weapons. Just keep a notepad nearby to keep track of details.
