Spanning decades of Russian history - from the repressive stagnation of the gerontocracy to the confused restructuring of the market to the global financial crisis of 2007 - ALMOST ZERO is at once a satire, a mystery, and a confession by Russia's notorious operative, the "Gray Cardinal." Bloody, hilarious, despicable, and intensely revealing, this is the first complete English-language translation of Surkov's novel and is a glimpse into the mind of one of the world's most insidious politicians.