On February 24, 2022, the first day of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, armored vehicles approached the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine. This was the shortest route to the capital, and a particularly reckless plan after the disaster that occurred there three decades earlier. The Russian occupation of the plant had begun. It lasted for thirty-five days.

This is the story of the Ukrainians who were held hostage and worked shifts for weeks instead of days to avert another nuclear catastrophe, meticulously documented and told from multiple perspectives. We meet Valentin Haiko, the foreman who also participated in the cleanup of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and who turned 60 during the occupation; the plant workers who found a way to celebrate International Women's Day against all odds; Russian officers who were unaware of nuclear reactors; and four intruders caught in the middle and replaced the exhausted cook.

Chernobyl Roulette, a gripping and unforgettable novel, sounds the alarm about the dangers of nuclear sites at an unprecedented time, as plant workers are left to fend for themselves while the world holds its breath. In a book that reads like a thriller, Serhiy Plokhy tells a remarkable story of human nature, uncertainty, and courage.