Combining realistic thrills with sophisticated spycraft and witty dialogue, 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 a 1980s Jewish refugee camp near Rome. Dynamic, fast-paced, and filled with captivating details that provide a window into a secretive world, is a first-rate thriller that pays homage to both meanings of “intelligence.”