The Forbidden Zone

The founding editor of the first English-language daily newspaper in Russia, the Moscow Times, reveals his formidable knowledge of Russian society in this admirably executed first novel set in the moribund Soviet Union of 1983. To protect their crumbling positions as communism expires, the Old Guard will go to extremes, including claiming that dissident Anton Perov was killed in Afghanistan when he is actually enduring the living death of ""antitherapy"" in a KGB mental hospital. But those holding Anton have not reckoned on the man's twin brother, astrophysicist Victor Perov, and on Victor's American colleague and friend, astronomer Katherine Sears. These two believe Anton is alive, and in due course find themselves pursuing not only him but a deadly secret he harbors about a Politburo member. Victor and Katherine's major opponent is, ironically, the twins' mother, a powerful Politburo member, while their allies include several high-ranking KGB officers--a startling demonstration of how factionalism and influence made bizarre bedfellows in the waning days of Soviet communism. Even more striking is Hetzer's portrait of a cross-section of Soviet society, including the agricultural settlement that is honored to make the disguised and fugitive Katherine a member of its ""collective."" The vividly realized setting and skillful handling of a large cast of characters more than compensate for Hetzer's overuse of coincidence and a few Perils-of-Pauline-like sequences. This is a well-written, attentive debut, full of compassion for the Russian people and of pleasure for American readers. Agent, Victoria Sanders. (Feb.)