Dynamo - Softcover

Goddard, Tariq

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340821493 ISBN 13: 9780340821497

Publisher: Sceptre, 2004

Synopsis

Moscow, 1938. As Stalin's economic plans roll out across the country, and the unions buckle beneath impossible targets; as Europe rumbles on towards war, and the NKVD tightens its stranglehold on the nation, the star striker for Spartak, champions of the USSR, and the workers' football team, is struck down by a virulent strain of love-sickness and refuses to get out of bed. The eyes of Moscow are upon him, and with a critical game against Dynamo (the team of the secret police) in only a few days time, Spartak's unbeaten run looks set to end.

Which would, perhaps, be no bad thing. For the eyes of the secret police are unwaveringly trained on Copic and Tomsky, the manager and trainer for Spartak, who are faced with the choice between throwing the championship, or placing their lives, and those of their team mates in unequivocal, terrible danger.

Love affairs, conspiracies, vodka-soaked evenings, the settling of old scores and the making of impossible choices, are all played out against the frozen Moscow landscape in this sparkling, suspenseful and vibrant second novel.

About this title

Review:

Like all good fiction, it frictionlessly combines both the individual and the universal ... it's both an aria and a hooligan holler to the human spirit (Time Out)

It's a wonderful premise for a novel, and Goddard pulls it off with a flourish ...DYNAMO is a smart, funny and engaging novel from a refreshingly unusual new voice in British Fiction (Martyn Bedford, New Statesman (Book of the Week))

Sheer excitement ... a pacy story that matches Elmore Leonard in its mix of hyperbole and humour ... characters (that) slip into the reader's heart (The Times)

Very little football occurs in Dynamo, yet it remains as transfixing as a Maradona run and as surprising and wonderful as the recent Wales v Italy result. Dynamo, like football itself, is an affirmation and exaggeration of life (Niall Griffiths, author of Sheepshagger and Grits)

A colourful, pensive novel full of eccentricity and desperate humour ... DYNAMO's closing minutes grip like a vice (Sunday Herald)

A fascinating story, told with tension, pace and humour (Daren King, Scotland on Sunday)

Riveting, authentic, and very down-and-dirty (Daily Mail)

Past events are described with a lack of inhibition ... the eccentricity and danger of Soviet Russia breathe through these pages (Telegraph)

Book Description:

A poised and darkly funny second novel about sex, football and the Russian secret police, from the Whitbread-shortlisted author of 'Homage to a Firing Squad'.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0340821493
• ISBN 13: 9780340821497
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288