The Man Behind a Mask

Nikolai is a renowned Soviet surgeon whose revolutionary medical achievements and political connections grant him the rare privilege of crossing the Iron Curtain to perform controversial operations. To maintain this status, Nikolai agrees to carry out missions abroad on behalf of the KGB—tasks that, to his own surprise, begin to intrigue and excite him.

In the West, he meets Lisbeth, a mysterious British doctor, and a romantic relationship begins to blossom—destabilizing his private life and threatening his double life as a surgeon and spy.

After performing a gender reassignment surgery without permission from Moscow, Nikolai loses his “untouchable” status and prepares to start a new life in the West with Lisbeth. But once deemed expendable by the USSR, he is sent to Kabul—on what may be his final mission. There, Nikolai discovers that Lisbeth is an MI6 agent who had been using him—but also fell in love with him and now wants to disappear with him.

With his scalpel, Nikolai alters Lisbeth’s appearance, granting her a new identity. He, however, chooses to remain in the USSR—within the system that created him, and with which he has become dangerously intertwined.