Overview

Checkmate Run is a real-life thriller that chronicles the author's life as a writer, medical student, and physician in Moscow during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s and his struggle to survive the brutal Soviet regime. Alex Loevsky is a medical student and an inspiringly rebellious poet who becomes enmeshed in a battle against the rampant cruelty of the communist rule, where the simple desire to think freely is a crime on par with treason, and being born Jewish is more than a mere hindrance. When Alex witnesses the murder of a dissident who seeks to expose to the Western world the tortuous reality of life in the Soviet Union, it leads him to the core of the human rights activists' underground. Alex's life becomes a death-dealing game of chess, where in order to survive he must remain one step ahead of his ruthless opponent--the KGB's second chief directorate. The KGB agents are vicious and closing in, and Alex's odds of escaping are bleak. The inevitable checkmate will either bring him freedom ... or death. Checkmate Run is an adrenaline rush of a novel that examines the value and fragility of life, love, and freedom, which most of us take for granted.

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9781504644952

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Alexander offers the story of an idealistic Jewish medical student and poet who is subject to Soviet repression during the 1960s and '70s. Stefan Rudnicki's liquid baritone can breathe emotion into any story...Rudnicki's skill with Russian names prevents problems with pronunciation that might otherwise detract from his performance. Together, Alexander and Rudnicki illuminate a brutal chapter in the Soviet era. -- AudioFile

Author Information

Allan Alexander was born in Moscow and grew up in a totalitarian state. He was a published poet by the age of eighteen and beat the odds of Jewish admission quotas by being accepted by the Medical School. His collaboration with an avant-garde literary magazine ended with a six-month, politically motivated incarceration. After his release, he returned to his medical studies and became intricately involved in the Soviet Jewry struggle for freedom to emigrate. In 1975 Alexander, his wife, and their young son left the Soviet Union, arriving in the United States with just a couple of suitcases, a lot of aspirations, and thirty-three dollars in their pockets. Today all three of them are successful practicing physicians in St. Petersburg, Florida. Claire Bloom, CBE, is an English film and stage actress, known for leading roles in plays such as Streetcar Named Desire, A Doll's House, and Long Day's Journey into Night, along with nearly sixty films and countless television roles, during a career spanning over six decades. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Queen's birthday honors for services to drama. Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than three thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than three hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile's Golden Voices in 2012.

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