Midnight in Moscow A memoir from the front lines of Russia's war against the West

Sullivan, a former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, draws from George Kennan's landmark "Long Telegram" on Soviet geopolitical objectives and the Nuremberg Nazi trials to shed light on the Putin regime's hostility towards the West, its deceit, and its "special military operation," namely, the war against Ukraine. Sullivan secured his posting in Moscow despite the chaos and continual personnel shuffling in the Trump administration. Once there, he witnessed firsthand the harassment, petty slights, false imprisonments, and obstruction by the "Chekist" (ruled by former and current secret police) host nation against American nationals. Sullivan is a captivating storyteller and astute interpreter of Russian actions and duplicity, but his analysis suffers from following Reagan's admonition to never speak ill of another Republican because he ignores the Russian influence on and sympathy for Russia within his political party. This is, nonetheless, an excellent eyewitness account of one of America's most powerful adversaries.

Attorney Sullivan was U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation under Presidents Trump and Biden. Before that, he served three other presidents in prominent diplomatic and legal positions, though it's unusual for a diplomatic appointment to transition across party lines. In addition to being a memoir of his diplomatic career, his first book attempts to understand Russia under Putin. Sullivan shows that Putin identifies with his country to the extent that Russia is Putin, so Putin takes personally any criticism of the war in Ukraine. His debut brims with insightful analysis through the lens of diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation. Sullivan also writes about being in Russia during COVID and in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal. The memoir emphasizes Sullivan's career of public service, but it also demonstrates the toll of spending so much time away from his family. Sullivan is clearly a policy wonk, so his book is dense at times but remains accessible to informed readers. VERDICT A distinguished insider's view of United States-Russia relations and what a diplomatic role entails personally and politically, especially in wartime.--Jessica A. Bushore

Get ready for Cold War 2.0, according to a key diplomat who has surveyed the battlefield. As U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2019 to 2022, Sullivan brings a firsthand perspective to this account of the evolving geopolitical landscape. When Trump nominated the author, the president was surprised that anyone would want such a difficult and dangerous task. There was no shortage of crises, from the SolarWinds cyberattack to the arrest of innocent American citizens. There was aggressive harassment by the Russian security services, and on numerous occasions, writes Sullivan, high-level officials simply lied to his face. "Russia is not merely an adversary….Putin's government in the Kremlin is a self-declared enemy of the United States," he writes, delivering a portrait of Putin as a man of staggering arrogance, making statements that are so absurd there is little effective way to respond. He continues to be "completely untethered from the truth and facts." The people around him are largely there to agree with him and flatter him, so groupthink prevailed when Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine in 2022. Sullivan believes that the war has become a de facto battle between Russia and the West, and Ukraine should receive as much support as possible from its allies. Putin has invested too much prestige and ego to ever admit defeat, so there does not appear to be any resolution in sight. In fact, Sullivan cannot foresee any improvement in Russian-U.S. relations from its current nadir. The best way forward for the U.S. is to recognize that it is in a war, gather its will and resources accordingly, and aim to keep the conflict from turning hot. It's a grim outlook, but Sullivan's knowledgeable text must be heeded. With the authority of personal experience, Sullivan paints a vivid, dark, frightening picture of Russia in the Putin era. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.