Dragan’s Moral Compass
The imperfect protagonist of the novel Nina's Friends
Part of a series of posts about James Irwin’s novel Nina’s Friends, providing greater insight into how it was created, the inspirations and real-life contexts, and other extra features.
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This post contains mild spoilers
When I introduce you to Dragan Markov, the protagonist of the international crime novel Nina’s Friends, it’s by showing him doing what he does best: keeping his head down, staying calm, and competently fixing the problems of other people. Making uncomfortable situation go away.
The reader is led to think Dragan is merely someone in operations at the Russian embassy in Washington D.C. who also serves as a fixer for a wealthy oligarch living in Virginia. A glorified errand boy. Tall with an athlete’s lean build, handsome enough, well-dressed enough. Someone pretty smart, focused on getting the job done with calm, control, and precision. But not necessarily someone who is happy with their situation.
As the book proceeds, we come to understand (piece by piece) he is much more than that. We learn he is a disgraced agent, and that his relationship with the oligarch has elements of indentured servitude. We learn he can be prone to violence, often in a way that escalates quickly. That he can be passionate, impulsive, and able to sustain barely disguised fury for a long time.
A big part of his problem is his lovesickness over a woman, Nina, who recently ended their affair. She is an undercover Russian agent, embedded in the U.S. with her husband. The relationship between Dragan and Nina was torrid, even obsessive, and there was also much about it that was inappropriate. He can’t get over her, can’t move on. He is treading water, professionally and personally.
Ultimately Dragan shows himself to be, by nature, both deeply loyal and quite dangerous.
He maintains a veneer of professional cool and, occasionally, simmering disdain. He’s a man who cloaks his true nature as much as possible, hiding it even from himself. He has regrets about the behavior that aborted his espionage career but he is far from self-loathing. Actually, he knows how smart he is and how little it is appreciated by those around him, and leans into being underestimated when it suits him.
The competing tensions of Dragan’s life are the infrastructure of this story. He survives in a world where discretion matters, panic gets people killed, and collateral damage is unacceptable because it brings unwanted attention. He doesn’t threaten or posture when confronting enemies, or colleagues who might have become enemies when he wasn’t looking. He listens, watches, and lets people talk themselves into corners. Restraint is part of his power.
The restraint cracks in a tense conversation between Dragan and Nina in her Philadelphia townhouse. The interaction become tangled up with old emotions, shared history, and things neither of them ever said out loud. This is not a melodramatic scene. I wanted both characters to remain muted, wary, and uncomfortable, the way such moments often are. Everyone in the room senses what’s at stake, even when they’re pretending not to.
When Nina and her husband are murdered it nearly sends Dragan into a tailspin. Instead, it drives him forward, to learn who killed his lover and why. He does it under the guise of a professional investigation, but no one really believes that, not even him. It’s too complicated for that.
She wasn’t an abstract concept, a name on a report. She was a real person, a woman Dragan loved. And someone, he discovers, who was not the person he thought she was.
By the time he arrives in Copenhagen, following a trail that will lead to outlaw bikers, money launderers, and fledgling domestic terrorists, it’s clear that for Dragan the effort isn’t just about clearing his name or solving a crime. It’s about deciding how much of himself he’s willing to sacrifice to avenge people who may not have deserved his devotion. And about whether there is redemption waiting for him at the end.
Nina’s Friends is a crime novel, and also something of a spy story. It is also a tale of loyalty, regret, and the cost of keeping secrets for too long. If you enjoy slow-burn suspense, morally complicated characters, and the kind of intrigue that unfolds in quiet rooms rather than firefights, I think you’ll have a good time here.
Dragan’s world is one where duty and desire rarely line up, professionalism and humanity battle for dominance, and every choice leaves a mark. That tension is what will keep you turning pages.
James Irwin is the author of the novel Nina’s Friends, available on Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, Apple Books, Kobo, or order through your local independent bookstore. You can also purchase the paperback direct from the distributor at 35% off standard retail price. His newest novel is Lucky Guy, available on Amazon and elsewhere.