Slow Suicide

A Slow Suicide by William Jovanovich is a Cold War–era spy thriller that blends espionage, politics, and science. It follows Mark Petrie, an American agent with a hidden Russian past, who becomes entangled in a conspiracy surrounding a breakthrough in room‑temperature fusion — a technology capable of producing unlimited energy. Both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. want to keep this discovery secret from Europe and Japan, giving the Soviets a head start under a covert accord. Petrie and his ally, chemistry professor Victor Turcheff, are targeted by their own colleagues, mobsters, and international forces who fear exposure of the secret.