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May 8, 2026

The Idiot: Full of sound and fury, signifying…something

the true crime that's worth your time

Serial/NYT's recent season from M. Gessen on unforgivable family is solidly constructed and reported. Is that enough?

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The crime
Kidnapping; kidnapping again; bribery; attempted murder for hire.

The story, which contains some spoilers
I don't know that I'd have engaged with the new season from Serial Productions, The Idiot, if its story didn't come from M. Gessen. Gessen, a journalist and activist born in Russia, also wrote The Brothers, a book I quite liked for its tart straightforwardness and its insight into the alienation Russian adolescents feel coming to the States.

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