cover image Lying Together: My Russian Affair

Lying Together: My Russian Affair

Jennifer Beth Cohen. University of Wisconsin Press, $22.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-299-20100-5

It's January 1988, and TV producer Cohen learns of the trafficking of Russian women into the U.S. to work as sex slaves. To help cover the story, she hires Kevin, a Russian-based journalist she hasn't seen in years but who happens to be the object of her longstanding, college-era crush. This sharp, fast-paced book chronicles how Cohen chases down the story (and Kevin) and details their ensuing disastrous relationship. She's swooning over him instantly, via their e-mails, even before she's traveled to Russia to begin covering the story; and although it takes her almost 200 pages to realize she's made a bad choice, readers will see red flags well before, when one of Cohen's friends cautions her to slow down. Plus, the author's admission that she's bulimic and on Prozac hints that her judgment might not be clearheaded. Still, Cohen offers a fascinating glimpse inside the world of newsgathering and of contemporary Russia. However, Cohen's apologies for Kevin's erratic, hurtful behavior get tedious: ""Give me a little affection and I forgive. Give me a lot of affection, I forget."" Even at book's end, it's hard to tell whether she's eliminating him from her life or letting him hover in the background, thereby keeping her from healing herself. Agent, Stephanie Kip Rostan. (Sept. 15) .