The Forbidden Zone: A Novel

by Michael Hetzer

The year is 1984. The place, the Soviet Union. A struggling country awaiting the cure of "perestroika." For too many Russians, this land has become the Forbidden Zone.
In the waning days of the Cold War, Victor Perov, a brilliant Soviet scientist, agrees to a joint Soviet-American astrophysics project. Victor's faith in Communism and the Party is unwavering, but his impassioned scientific alliance with Katherine Sears, an American astrophysicist, quickly becomes romantic.
When Katherine learns that Victor's twin brother, Anton, a dissident believed killed in action in Afghanistan, is actually imprisoned somewhere in the Soviet psychiatric gulag, she risks her life to inform Victor. With the KGB hot on her trail and the American Embassy in Moscow powerless, Katherine must flee into the Soviet countryside, and Victor is left to grapple with a truth that pits him against his own mother, a high-ranking Soviet minister known as the Iron Perova.
Everywhere Victor turns, he is met with icy communist silence -- and anyone willing to talk seems to be turning up dead. The further he searches, the deeper he must dig into a painful period of Mother Russia's history. His career, his family and his life at risk, Victor must learn whom to trust in this deadly game of Party politics in order to save the woman he loves and his twin brother.

396 pages, Paperback

First published February 11, 1999

About the author

Michael Hetzer is a former foreign correspondent and founding editor of "The Moscow Times," "The Moscow Guardian," and served as English-language editor of "Commersant." His novel, "The Forbidden Zone," was featured in "The New York Times" and was named one of the top five debut thriller novels of the year by "The Boston Globe." A lifelong “Goghpie,” he hosts a Van Gogh fan site online.

Reviews

[Jon Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Soviet Union was a dismal place!

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning is excellent, so is the end and pretty much everything in between. Characters are well developed; nobody is perfect; there is some good even in evil. Having spent time in Soviet Russia, the KGB scenes were believable and frightening, the repression of science and innovative thinking as stupid as it really was. I will look for more by Hetzer. NOTE: There is no more!

[DROPPING OUT · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this romp, one or perhaps two "errors" notwithstanding. I was in the Soviet Union several times between 1986 and 1990 and had constant contact with individuals who seemed to have clearly KGB connections, while prompted my "our side" at the same time. This thriller brought back memories, both positive and negatives, about my time spent in the "Evil Empire."

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! Kept be spellbound till the very end. A very sensitive look at Communist Russia. Deep characterization of the characters. Learned lots about Russia and its people.

[Lisa]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11974854