Michael Idov

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

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

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

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)

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

Thank you John — means a LOT from you

"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!

Whoa.

Items supposedly found on the scene: green wig, Nazi flag, “Antisystem fighter” t-shirt, and three discs with The Sims

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

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.

Links on a fucking chain. @michaelidov.bsky.social knows exactly how this goes down. www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

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.

"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...

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.

Spoke to the great @ichotiner.bsky.social for @newyorker.com about the fate of comedy in authoritarian regimes, a topic that sadly pursues me my whole life www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

I can

I can

A tip of my hat to David, I’m a fan!

Opinion | Would You Believe This Spy’s Name?

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.

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

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

Opinion | Would You Believe This Spy’s Name?

Got a not-entirely-serious essay in @nytimes.com today, about the plague of weird foreign names in spy novels. Amazing illustration www.nytimes.com/2025/08/23/o...

A promo image for the above panel, featuring me, Michael Idov and DB John above the Bloody Scotland logo and date of 12th to 14th September.

The @bloodyscotland.bsky.social programme launched on Thursday and tickets are now available for my panel with @michaelidov.bsky.social and DB John, chaired by Kim Sherwood - come along to hear us talk about spies in all compass directions. bloodyscotland.com/event/spies-...

What else would you expect a spy thriller writer to say when asked, “Are you a spy?” 😉⁠
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You can listen to my full conversation with @michaelidov.bsky.social as we talk all things espionage, his new book ‘The Collaborators’ and hear two Gen Xers get way too excited about cassette tapes. 🎙️📼

🆘 The Tower is Falling 🆘 Europe, do us a solid and support public media in the US — while it still exists

This VE Day post goes out to local public media affiliates, @npr.org @rferl.org.web.brid.gy @pbsnews.org @remhq.bsky.social (not forgetting superfan @michaelidov.bsky.social) and @swedenineu.bsky.social continuous-wave.beehiiv.com/p/the-lighth...

At Bar Electrolite, Cocktails for the End of the World Situated just outside of Brussels, the world’s only R.E.M.-themed bar acts as a modest, mellow shrine for the band’s devoted, graying fans.

“I just want to honor the band.” @michaelidov.bsky.social

If you're done with Severance, have I got six hours of Polish geopolitical intrigue for you. (Also, subscribe, it's free!) open.substack.com/pub/michaeli...

Main lesson from The Pitt: “a pinprick and some burning” means you’re about to experience the most excruciating pain in your life

Opinion | ‘Anora’’s Oscar Nominations Have Become Russian Propaganda (Gift Article) “Anora” is neither “pro-Russian” nor “anti-Russian.” But its Oscar nominations have been touted as a national victory in Russia.

It was a hard piece to get right. I love the film and the actors, but hate how its success hands another win to Russia just as the US abandons any and all principled opposition to Putin. (PS for the conspiracy-minded: Oscar voting is over, so no effect on the outcome) www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/o...

Even better, I was lucky enough to be at the taping in person. Unforgettable

The Collaborators

My quick review of The Collaborators by @michaelidov.bsky.social Published by @simonaudio.bsky.social
A fast paced, action packed thriller!

#BookSky #bookreview #audiobook #espionagethriller

www.theretiredlibrarian.com/2025/01/the-...

Spies, Lies, and Blog Posts: Michael Idov’s ‘The Collaborators’ - The Moscow Times During the Cold War, spy fiction focused on the shadowy battles between the intelligence agencies of the USSR and the West.

A great review (tempered by the least flattering photo imaginable). This is also how I learned that White Rabbit closed, ha. Cheers for the local-interest angle www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/01/12/s...

Loved this review for highlighting one of the book's main motifs (that of OSINT being largely superior to traditional spying)

Thank you! Ha, yes, but mostly for what Dmitry Utkin (the actual "Wagner" of Wagner) looked like