A Russian and the American mob make strange bedfellows in a brilliantly plotted masterpiece of cross-cultural criminality. The book is set in Brighton (renamed Odessa) Beach, Brooklyn, where Nikolai Zoracoff has defected from Moscow -- not seeking political asylum but escape from the KGB. A charming hedonist and a criminal only because in Moscow luxury is bought by crime, Zoracoff's assimilation into America includes cowboy hats, Dolby stereo and a drug connection which, in New York, means an alliance with the Mafia -- and a game which is harder than Zoracoff can bear. The author is a former New York City undercover detective who draws upon his vast experience in law enforcement. He operated in a strange netherworld in which good guys play bad to catch the real criminals.