The Commissar's Report

The Commissar’s Report, originally published by Houghton Mifflin, was lauded as “a wonder of intense, cinematic storytelling…honest, inventive, and memorable.” (Wall Street Journal). In this comic novel of the Cold War, Dimitri, a young hero of the Russian Revolution and Kremlin spy is secretly smitten by the sirens of capitalism. His posting to the Soviet consulate in New York is a dream come true.

The dream quickly becomes a nightmare. Dimitri’s Soviet boss despises him, his wife is obsessed with the unsocialist pursuit of a Bergdorf’s charge account, and his boyhood friend is now a CIA agent who stalks him. On Wall Street, he is plagued by his wild talent for making money in the stock market. His bosses in Red Square would find this difficult to overlook if they knew. And, as Dimitri fears, the old men of the Kremlin have a deadly habit of knowing everything sooner... or later.

Burke creates a unique and highly entertaining tale of dark humor and rich understanding.

“...original…plot is fast and wildly complex and the twists are clever.”
People Magazine

“...consistently funny, surprising and inventive.”
LA Times