Thus is our young hero o] the Russian Revolution

secretly smitten by the sirens of capitalism. In due

course Dimitri is marked by the Kremlin as a young

man with an exceedingly devious mind Accord-

ingly they assign him to the New York Consulate of

the U.S.S.R. For Dimitri, at last united with his love, it

is a dream assignment

But, as dreams go, America quickly takes on the

colors of a nightmare from which there is no awak-

ening. In short order, Dimitri finds himself intrigued

against by his own chief of station, whose highest

ambition is to ship the young spy back to Mos

cow--preferably in a steamer trunk At home in the

consulate, he rinds his future threatened by Katya,

his voluptuous wile, whose highest ambition is to

have an unlimited and most unsocialist charge ac

count at Bergdorf s. On the streets, he is stalked by

Lavrenti, a boyhood friend turned CIA-agent and

nemesis, whose thirst for revenge compels him to

kill Dimitri in a thousand little ways and one big

final payment And down on Wall Street, Dimitri is

plagued by his own wild talent ]or making money in

the stock market, a lot of money, enough money to

make him one of the hundred richest men in Amer-

ica-something that his employers in Red Square

would find difficult to overlook if they knew.

And, as Dimitri knows too well, the old men of

the Kremlin have a deadly habit of knowing every

thing sooner.., or later

A unique and highly entertaining tale of dark hu

mor and rich understanding, The Commissar s

Report is that rare hove[ that is simultaneously

thrilling, moving, and hilarious. What Joseph Heller

did to World War II with Catch-22, Martyn Burke

does to the Cold War with The Commissar s Report.