iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Michael Idov

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 21/06/2026

"The Americans can't get the slime out of their capital's monument pool and will arrest you for touching it," sounds like the sort of lie they'd tell us in the Soviet Union so we'd stop bitching about bread lines.

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HpEggenberger @hpeggenberger.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Mein neuer "Krimi der Woche" (Crime novel of the week): Michael Idov: "Das Riga-Komplott" (Original: "The Collaborators"; Deutsch von Stefan Lux Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin @suhrkamp.de @michaelidov.bsky.social www.krimikritik.com/reviews/26/1...

krimikritik.com

Die Spione kehren zurück in die Literatur — krimikritik.com

„Das Riga-Komplott“ vom amerikanisch-lettischen Autor Michael Idov ist ein brillanter Agentenroman um Geld und Macht. Hart, aber auch witzig. Und ein bisschen romantisch.

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

First of all, thank you so much! Second, try Book Soup in LA. (If they are out, DM me and I’ll make it happen somehow)

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com books.

Three panels showing a bench on a small hill in London on a grey drizzly day. A man in a fedora carrying a suitcase arrives, then he is joined by a woman carrying an umbrella and a man in dark glasses reading a newspaper. They all look shifty and hurriedly converse:
"Good."
"Very."
"Agreed."
Then they all walk off down the hill.

Caption:
Every month, the Espionage Book Club discuss a classic work of spy fiction at a clandestine meeting. To minimise the risk of exposure, infiltration or surveillance by hostile agents, conversation is restricted to the essentials.

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Yesterday’s Connections finally laid a perfect trap for my demographic

A line of unrelated “red herrings” (Outcast, Salt-and-pepper, Rough Riders, and The Far Side) that could be read as a list of 90s’ hip-hop acts with corrected spelling

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Secretly my favorite line in the book, so thanks for zeroing in on it

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Oh thank you! Hope it sticks the landing for you

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

oh yes it was great! not me, that is, but the podcast itself. glad the archive is still out there

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Reposted by Michael Idov

Sarah Weinman @sarahweinman.com · 28/01/2026

January's Crime & Mystery column is finally up, reviewing new books by Kelli Stanley, Malcolm Kempt, Amy Pease, and Michael Idov. (gift link)

nytimes.com

In These Mystery Novels, Evil Lurks in Unexpected Places

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Reposted by Michael Idov

Scribner Books @scribnerbooks.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Happy publication day to this electrifying spy thriller! #TheCormorantHunt by @michaelidov.bsky.social is a must-read for fans of political intrigue, espionage, and thrillers that don’t play by the rules. Start reading it now: bit.ly/4rXr3NB

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Scribner Books @scribnerbooks.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

"Be prepared to become an Idov espionage fan waiting on the next thrilling and compelling story.”—Maureen Palacios, Once Upon a Time Bookstore #TheCormorantHunt hits shelves January 27th. You won't be able to put it down. bit.ly/4rXr3NB

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

A single face-to-face contact confirming a lifetime of conditioning and a promise of protection from a made-up enemy. I am curious what the progressive equivalent of this could be, and can’t think of anything. (Which is a good thing… but not for retail politics)

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ceej @ceej.online · 09/01/2026

Yes! Yes!! My party is in power!! Time to hit the streets and do violence to my neighbors!! I'm assuming of course that no social, cultural, or political forces, let alone those caused by my own gleeful actions, will ever tip the balance of power away from us

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

The insane thing is, even Russia always puts some kind of fig leaf over its ambitions (historically Russian lands, a mistreated Russian population, our former allies betrayed us, NATO has forced our hand, etc etc) while this guy is… just out there saying “yes, this is pure territorial conquest”

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

I'm not religious in the least but this year, and especially given the last 24 hours, I see no choice but to celebrate the crap out of Hanukkah

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Not a great day buuuut there's some good news, too: Kirkus Reviews just gave a rave, and its coveted star, to The Cormorant Hunt. (The Collaborators got one as well, so this series is two for two now). A serious honor, and a hell of a start

Kirkus Reviews calls The Cormorant Hunt “spy fiction at its headiest and most addictive” in a starred review

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

It's kind of nuts that you can currently hear R.E.M. songs live, but your two options are to hear them sung by the guy from Hootie & the Blowfish or Oscar-nominated actor Michael Shannon

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

“Read this book in a cooler place than I wrote it” challenge off to a strong start, I see

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Scribner Books @scribnerbooks.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

The follow up to The Collaborators is here! Read as part of the series or as a standalone, you won't be able to put down THE CORMORANT HUNT by Michael Idov! Enter for a chance to win on Goodreads! No purch. nec. US res. 18+ 11/23-12/19. bit.ly/4nAB1kw

bit.ly

Book giveaway for The Cormorant Hunt (The Cormorant Trilogy, #2) by Michael Idov Nov 23-Dec 19, 2025

30 free copies available. Giveaway dates from Nov 23-Dec 19, 2025. The follow up to The Collaborators is here! Read as part of the series or as a standal...

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

I’ve been waiting and hoping for exactly this, but it’s still a chilling read. Hope enough people in the IC locate their spines now, so it doesn’t have to go the full von Stauffenberg route later

substack.com

An Open Letter to the Serving and Former Flag Officers of the U.S. Military

The Steady State | October 31, 2025

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

I would read all four volumes of Carol Sturka’s purple sand pirate smut series before reading a single word of that Olivia Nuzzi book

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

You could tell me this Pope Leo XIV quote was from a David Lynch interview and I’d believe you. Cool dude

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

That’s a fantastic idea, by the way

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

It was then adopted by RF embassies around the world, who started doing it in English to score easy anti-establishment and anti-U.S. points online. And now, 10 years later, the U.S. establishment speaks like this to its own citizens. Womp womp indeed

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Not for nothing, this style of gov’t communication was invented around 2015 by Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I remember a lot of jaws dropping when it began.

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Peter Baker @peterbakernyt.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

The Russians made their own film titled "Nuremberg," released two years ago. Watching it side by side with the new American one speaks volumes about how the two societies see themselves and each other, writes @michaelidov.bsky.social airmail.news/issues/2025-...

airmail.news

"Nuremberg," Two Ways

How does James Vanderbilt's film about Nazis on trial differ from the Russian-made film of the same title? A side-by-side comparison speaks volumes about contemporary politics.

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Wildly proud to share this new addition to the cast of Stratagem: an actor I have hugely admired for literal decades, Mr. Dexter and David Fisher himself, Michael C. Hall

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Flattered to have made the list, and can’t wait to get to work on this.

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

Every time you check out a Longines ad, an alarm goes off at the Intellectual Dark Web Marketing Department

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

There don’t seem to be DMs here (?), but you can contact me over Instagram at @michaelidov

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

If you consider reviewing it, happy to have Scribner send you a copy!

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Reviews are nice, but the only times I am legitimately bowled over are when someone who ACTUALLY knows this stuff has this to say. (Click on John’s bio to see what I mean)

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Thanks — and believe me, I’m just as impatient for it to come out (1/27/26) just so I can finally talk about it with people

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Thank you John — means a LOT from you

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Glenn Shepard @tweettropiques.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

"To be a Brit was to be a bit of a spy, and to be a spy was to be a bit of a Brit." --Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social Thanks to @spybrary.bsky.social for turning me on to this emerging talent. Le Carre tradecraft & betrayal meets Bourne-style action. Plus lots of spy & sci-fi Easter eggs!

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

Re: “anti-ICE” on shell casings: in 2022, Russian authorities eagerly shared photos of a Ukrainian “terrorist lair” that weirdly showed 3 copies of the game The Sims. It took minutes for the Internet to figure out that the FSB officer staging the scene must have been told to include some SIM cards

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Julia Barton @bartona104.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

"Glossy magazines were exempted for many years because the thinking went that...glossy-magazine culture is basically the urban élites talking to themselves, and we don’t really need to get into that space..." @michaelidov.bsky.social w/ the goods on media repression www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

newyorker.com

The Grave Threat Posed by Donald Trump’s Attack on Jimmy Kimmel

The President and his allies are using the power of the state to silence speech they dislike.

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

A tip of my hat to David, I’m a fan!

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Olya Oliker aka Dr. Olga Oliker (she/her) @olyaoliker.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Enjoyed this essay by @michaelidov.bsky.social. I, too, have often chuckled, scowled, & called my friends over bizarrely named East Europeans in fiction (spy and otherwise). Indeed, whenever you're trying to describe a culture not your own, a little consultation can go a long way.

nytimes.com

Opinion | Would You Believe This Spy’s Name?

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Michael Idov @michaelidov.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

My only regret is that it didn’t come out two days earlier, which would have been Mr. Asch’f Lshtshfum’s birthday

A still frame of Jason Bourne’s Russian passport from 2002’s “The Bourne Identity,” which uses Cyrillic gibberish instead of proper transliteration

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