The Cormorant Hunt

Michael Idov

AFTER brazenly exposing the CIA’s undercover scheme to try rigging Russian elections and kill anyone who gets in the way, young CIA intelligence officer Ari Falk is now on the run in the Republic of Georgia and unsure of how the land lies.

For some, Falk is a hero for blowing the lid on a massive conspiracy, but others brand him a traitor… so who can he trust when the CIA begin a hunt to track him down for a perilous mission which they consider is perfectly suited for someone as jaded and unpredictable as him.  

If sophisticated espionage, bone-crunching thrills and spills, a cast of authentic characters, and a storyline full of sparkling dialogue and geopolitical intrigue floats your boat, then set sail with this all-action spy thriller from novelist, director and screenwriter Michael Idov (pictured below), a Latvian-born American who was raised in Riga under Soviet occupation. The Cormorant Hunt is the follow-up to The Collaborators, Idov’s dazzling debut novel which introduced us to the intrepid agent Ari Falk and a truly globetrotting adventure which criss-crossed both classic and surprising locations from Berlin and Portugal to Latvia, Belarus, and a 1980s Jewish refugee camp near Rome. 

Pitting present-day Russia against the CIA, Idov opens a tantalising door into a secretive world and the what-ifs of espionage as we follow Ari, a brilliant operator who works on cases linked to Russia… work which plunges him into the murky depths of some shadowy political schemes, and now the added complexities of a war in Europe.

Disheartened by events since the spectacular outing of the CIA’s unethical scheming two years ago, Ari Falk is hiding out in Tbilisi in Georgia and living off both his well-honed wits and his self-protection keyword, ‘careful.’ But his quiet, low-key exile is shattered when he discovers from the TV news that Alan Keegan – founder of an open-source intelligence portal and the man with whom Ari collaborated on the public exposure of the whistle-blowing dossier on the CIA – has been assassinated in Prague.

Keegan was ‘his last real friend’ and news reports are implying that Ari is wanted for a suspected role in the murder plot. It appears that the CIA are working hard to frame Ari, and deliberately publishing a photo of him leaves him ‘out in the open,’ far from home and in constant danger. But ulterior motives abound in the world of espionage and Asha Tamaskar – the CIA’s brilliant and neurodivergent new head of Covert Activities and a woman with secrets of her own – believes Ari to be the ideal candidate for a role as double agent in a perilous mission to track down Felix Burnham, a former CIA agent who was born in Russia, and is now a chilling antagonist with radical alliances which could change the global balance of power.

Known as the Cormorant, Burnham has a shadowy presence but is believed to be behind a string of murders stretching back decades and most likely responsible for the recent targeting of Keegan. It’s Ari’s most dangerous mission yet but one he can’t refuse because ‘the only way not to go down as Keegan’s killer was to find out who killed Keegan.’ All he needs to do now is to work out how he’s going to do that…

Idov – who has worked on numerous film and TV projects including Londongrad, Deutschland 83, Leto and The Humorist – uses his screenwriting talents to create another explosive, fast-paced and superbly plotted thriller which is as visually exciting as it is verbally entertaining. Working perfectly as a standalone – although it would be a shame to miss out on the exhilarating first outing with Ari in The Collaborators – this breathless race against time to track down a megalomaniac oligarch, determined to destabilise Europe’s delicate balance of power, is a thrill ride from start to finish.

With the clever and cunning new covert activities boss Asha providing a thread of romantic tension, as well as carrying some carefully protected secrets, there is plenty of dangerous subterfuge to relish, intriguing character dynamics to enjoy, and authentic questions to ponder about humanity’s dubious role in the realms of geopolitics.  And not content to impress us with his dazzling cinematic scenarios and heart-thumping action, Idov provides fascinating insider intelligence work detail, and a host of devilishly clever twists to keep the pages turning and readers on their toes.

Moving at breakneck pace from Tbilisi to Prague and Andorra to Bethesda, and encompassing everything from crypto and conflict to vote-rigging and extremism, this is an exhilarating, contemporary take on the age-old spy game, and with an electrifying dénouement that leaves readers gasping for breath in anticipation of Ari’s return!
(Scribner, hardback, £18.99)