A superior historical novel that vividly recreates the atmosphere of pre-revolution Russia. Bradby cleverly intertwines a suspense story revolving around mysterious murders with the real historical situation of Russia on the eve of the Revolution, and the result is quite thrilling and fascinating. The murder story itself is very well crafted, and works on its own brilliantly - the twists are actually original and believable, and Bradby doesn't mind taking it slow sometimes: the fact that he doesn't rush, like most writers of suspense novels do, is wonderful. Slowness sometimes is a pleasure. But what makes this book really great is the author's sense of what Russia was at the time: the reader feels like he's truly taking a walk in St Petersburg in 1917, and Bradby describes the city, its atmosphere of expected doom and tragedy, its tensions, its different areas, its weather, its streets and houses, with great knowledge and sensibility. A sweeping melancholy floats over the characters and their destinies, and there are some beautifully sad and moving passages. The writing is elegant. Bradby also manages to describe all aspects of the coming Revolution without taking sides, intelligently showing us a country about to explode from different perspectives. The ending may be a bit abrupt, but then, maybe Bradby was thinking of a sequel. his main character, Ruzsky, certainly deserves one.
Do You like book The White Russian (2004)?
A nearly perfect mystery/thriller set in Russia in the days just before the 1917 revolution. (And while I certainly didn't time it this way intentionally, it was interesting to note that I finished the book on the day before Bloody Sunday, a famous date from the earlier 1905 Russian revolution.) As was the case with his earlier THE MASTER OF RAIN and its treatment of 1920s Shanghai, Bradby is so good at writing every scene here that I was thoroughly enveloped by the atmosphere that he created. It begins with the discovery of two murder victims, found on the frozen Neva River of St. Petersburg soon after midnight of New Year's Day in 1917. And as the story's protagonist, the city's Chief Investigator, makes his way across the snow and ice to the crime scene, the writing is already so good that it was easy to feel that I was walking alongside him in the quiet cold of that time and place. As the investigation delves into the mystery of why the couple was there and what led to their deaths, the plot and subplots play out almost flawlessly within a fascinating historical context. Add a host of richly multi-layered characters, excellent dialogue and at least two doomed love affairs and you have another home run from a writer who has secured a spot on my don't-miss list.
—Jim
