Set against the backdrop of international intrigue and the looming conflict in Ukraine, Webster’s ambitious international political satire weaves together an eclectic cast of characters in a plot that lampoons both American and Russian political landscapes. While boasting a snake-handling preacher with a penchant for creating fake AI exposés, a missing-serpents cases, and other wild elements, the novel’s center is Bud, an aggrieved MAGA supporter—“I was the one in the red cap,” he tells a cop of the January 6 insurrection. After terrible experiences in online dating, Bud flies to St. Petersburg to meet women via Russian Brides Unlimited, encountering Sveta, a hazel-eyed physician assistant with a Ukrainian father who flirts by asking, “you do drive a big convertible automobile?”

Soon, Bud and Sveta are together, facing visa complexities while Bud politely ignores her warnings about Putin, whom he thinks of as a “tough hombre” like Trump. In this sequel to American Nonsensical, which introduced Bud and the gang at S. Stein Investigations, Webster’s fast, sharp-elbowed storytelling pulls off the trick of tying these elements into a coherent whole. For all the pointed displays of ignorance on the part of Bud, or the social-media charlatanism of Reverend Clem Dudas, who claims to have evidence of a conspiracy between “Commies and pervs” to “destroy our great country,” Webster’s interest is not just in the tiresomely berserk beliefs that pollute too many lives—it’s in the blindspots and justifications of men like Bud, his zeal, rooted in loneliness, to believe the world is something different than it is, something that’s being stolen, even when this conviction drives away the people dear to him.

The satire here is often broad, but the surprise, and the tangled, twisty mystery offers more laughs than suspense. But the surprise in Russian Nonsensical is Webster’s commitment to the hearts of these people, especially Bud, and his suggestion that, with love and time, the fevers fueled by anger and misinformation can diminish.

Takeaway: Sharp satiric mystery of a MAGA detective, Russian brides, and a snake-handling reverend.

Comparable Titles: Carl Hiaasen, Christopher Buckley.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-