Victor Pelevin, the novelist on Russian security elites' bedside tables
Across the world, spies have their own inside jokes and references, which give them a shared sense of belonging. Those can in turn shape the public's image of the intelligence world. In Russia, a writer shrouded in secrecy attracts the adoration - and occasionally the wrath - of the country's intelligence community, which he portrays with his own particular brand of subtle audacity.