Michael Idov is the author of the spy thrillers “The Collaborators” and this year’s “The Cormorant Hunt,” which are part of a trilogy. A Latvian-born American raised in Riga, Idov is the author of the novel “Ground Up” and the memoir “Dressed up for a Riot.” He won three National Magazine Awards for his work at New York magazine, and he was the editor-in-chief of GQ Russia from 2012 to 2014. Along with his screenwriting partner and wife Lily, he’s written for film and TV projects, including “Deutschland 83” and “Leto,” and he directed the 2019 film “The Humorist.” Dividing his time between Los Angeles, Berlin, and Portugal, he took the Q&A via email.
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Q. Please tell readers about your Ari Falk thrillers, “The Collaborators” and “The Cormorant Hunt.”
When “The Collaborators” came out in 2024, one reviewer said it better than I myself could: that it “splits the difference between the British and U.S. schools of spy fiction.” I think that’s exactly right. As a reader, I’ve always looked for smart, realistic thrillers that would also leave room for some adventure: after all, there’s plenty of adventure in real life. (Arguably more than we need at the moment). These novels are my attempt to fill that void.
Ari Falk is not a superspy like Bond or Bourne, or a modern-day Sherlock Holmes like George Smiley. He’s a burned-out, insecure millennial who is trying to do some good, and is frankly unsure that working for the U.S. government is the best way to do it. Over the first two books of this trilogy, you see him slowly shift to a worldview some might even consider unpatriotic. He just doesn’t want innocent people hurt, even for a great cause.
Q. What are some of the challenges of writing a spy thriller when the technology moves so fast – and so do current events?
You’re right that the geopolitical “now” is almost impossible to capture. I’m slightly cheating by setting every novel two years in the past: “The Collaborators” takes place in 2021, that weird moment between the Covid lockdowns and the war in Ukraine, and “The Cormorant Hunt” ends before Trump’s reelection (and addresses some of the factors that led to it).
As for the technology, this is the fun part, at least for me. These books are as much about OSINT, “open-source intelligence,” as they are about traditional spycraft. “The Collaborators” is in many ways a love letter to crowdsourced investigative projects like Bellingcat. I also try to show how all sides weaponize things like social media, the crypto market, and influencer culture. In the end, however, everything still comes down to human nature: love, greed, vanity, fear. This never changes.
Q. It seems challenging not only to create a distinct spy character, but also to find space within a thriller to let us get to know the character. Can you talk about how you came up with Ari Falk?
A lot of spy fiction takes place in a kind of all-clandestine universe where nothing but espionage exists, and everything else is a backdrop: hotels, airports, etc. It felt important to me to push against this. That’s why every setting in these books is a place where I’ve lived.
Ari Falk, too, is a regular 35-year-old who lives in the same world we all do. The first time we meet him, he is playing a dumb game on his phone and stressing out about being underdressed in a fancy hotel bar (he is wearing a Weezer T-shirt). In this sense, he is like a lot of people I know in the intelligence community: “half meathead, half egghead,” as he himself says. There’s some of me in there — he even has my tennis injury — but not too much.
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Q. You’ve worked in TV on shows like “Deutschland 83” and other series. How did that prepare you for writing fast-paced thrillers?
Screenwriting certainly helps you plan things out. But once all the diagramming is done, it’s important to keep that part of your brain shut off when you’re writing a book. If you don’t, it might stop you from using your full toolkit as an author. (For instance, I write in close third person, switching perspectives as needed, so I’m always in one character’s head). A novel needs to want to be a novel. Otherwise, you’re just writing underlying IP for a future adaptation. Might as well skip the middleman and make it a script.
Q. Is there a book or books you always recommend to other readers?
Whenever I run into someone who thinks that spy fiction is all shootouts, agency acronyms, and bad prose, I always pull out two ace cards. One is John le Carre’s “A Perfect Spy,” the novel JLC himself considered his best. The other is Ian McEwan’s “Sweet Tooth,” with its rule-breaking Nabokovian twist I wouldn’t dream of spoiling here.
Q. What are you reading now?
The new George Saunders, “Vigil.” And I managed to get “Project Hail Mary” right under the wire before the movie came out. (I’m a very occasional and picky sci-fi reader, but I do have my favorites: James S. A. Corey, Ted Chiang).
Q. How do you decide what to read next?
A couple of years ago, I did something I never thought I would: joined a friend’s book club. This goes more or less completely against my personality, but it is really getting me to read some stuff I normally wouldn’t.
Q. Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?
Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita.” I read it far too early, at eleven or twelve, and it stuck with me like a private nightmare of sorts.
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Q. Is there a book or type of book you’re reluctant to read?
A few! I will never read anything AI touched. This is a modern phenomenon, but if the author describes their book using “tropes” as if listing ingredients, I won’t come within a mile of it. Most MFA autofiction written by clever children of privilege sets my teeth on edge, though there are exceptions, of course. Finally, no plot is worth wading through bad prose. I recently stopped reading an acclaimed novel a few pages in, because the author didn’t know that “disinterested” means “unbiased,” not “bored.”
Q. Can you recall a book that felt like it was written with you in mind?
Percival Everett’s “Erasure,” which is funny because it stems from an experience that has nothing to do with mine. But as someone who had always refused to stay within a prescribed identity (which, in my case, means writing “immigrant fiction” and monetizing the fact that English is my second language), I found the quiet rage at its core extremely relatable.
Q. Do you have a favorite bookstore or bookstore experience?
Quite a few! Ocelot in Berlin. Heywood Hill in London. Counterpoint Records & Books, Skylight Books, and Book Soup in LA. Oh, and Godmothers in Summerland is an almost surreally perfect place.
Q. What’s something about your book that no one knows?
Pay attention to the character of Alan Keegan and his taste in music. Every time he listens to something, I get to smuggle in one of my favorite songs.