Dissident

A thrilling, witty, and slyly original Cold War mystery about a ragtag group of Jewish refuseniks in Moscow, Paul Goldberg's The Dissident explores what it means to survive in the face of impossible choices and monumental consequences.

On his wedding day in 1976, Viktor Moroz stumbles upon a murder scene: two gay men, including a U.S. official, are axed to death in Moscow. Viktor, a Jewish refusenik, is stuck in Russia due to the government's denial of his application to leave for Israel; he sits "in refusal" alongside his wife and their community of Jewish intellectuals. But then the KGB spots Viktor leaving the scene. Plucked off the street, he's given a choice: find the real murderer or become the suspect of convenience. His deadline is nine days later, when Henry Kissinger comes to Moscow. Axe murders, it seems, aren't good for politics.

To solve the case, Viktor ropes in his community; among others, we meet his banned text distributing wife, a hard drinking sculptor, a Russian priest of Jewish heritage, and a visiting American intent on reliving World War II heroics. As Viktor struggles to figure out who to trust, he's forced to not only question the KGB's murky motives, but also those of his fellow refuseniks and the man he admires above all: the Secretary of State himself.

Immersive, unpredictable, and always axe-sharp, The Dissident is Cold War intrigue at its most inventive: an uncompromising look at sacrifice, community, and the scars of history and identity from an expert storyteller.