Monstrum: A Novel - Hardcover

James, Donald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679457704 ISBN 13: 9780679457701

Publisher: Villard Books, 1997

Synopsis

A murder mystery in Russia against the background of a failed rebellion. The protagonist is Constantin Vadim, a detective investigating traffic in human organs. The probe is complicated by political intrigue and Vadim's ex-wife, a rebel general who is seeking his help to leave the country.In Russia in the not-too-distant future, a provincial detective finds himself pitted against a serial killer at the center of a conspiracy of politics and lies

About this title

Review:

Ace historian Donald James, who wrote the script for the excellent PBS television series Russia's War and whose book The Fall of the Russian Empire is a fine guide to recent past events, projects his expertise into the near future to create a chaotic, completely believable landscape of terror and frustration in this memorable thriller. It's 2015, and Russia-- racked by civil wars since the fall of the Yeltsin Government and its short-lived liberal successors--is under the strong grip of leader Leonid Koba. A melancholy, alcoholic (are there any other kind?), provincial policeman named Vadim is shipped from Murmansk to a bombed-out district of Moscow, ostensibly to investigate the brutal murders of women credited to a demonlike killer called the Monstrum. But what the people in power really want from the increasingly desperate Vadim is something completely different-- his resemblance to Koba and his connection to the woman who led the defeated rebels. --Naomi Gesinger

Review:

"One of the best books I've ever read . . .
my nominee for Thriller of the Year."
--Philadelphia Inquirer
"UNFORGETTABLE . . . MONSTRUM is more than a police procedural and more than a thriller. . . . You won't want to put [it] down."
--Detroit Free Press
"SOPHISTICATED . . . THOUGHT-PROVOKING . . . I read Monstrum at warp speed and with real pleasure."
--RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON
Author of No Safe Place
"MONSTRUM SUCCEEDS BRILLIANTLY AS A CRIME STORY, AS A POLITICAL THRILLER, AND AS PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE."
--Minneapolis Star Tribune
"THRILLING."
--People
"The thriller of the year. MONSTRUM combines the best of Fatherland and Gorky Park with a dash of Silence of the Lambs."
--The Times (London)

" One of the best books I've ever read . . .
my nominee for Thriller of the Year."
--Philadelphia Inquirer
" UNFORGETTABLE . . . MONSTRUM is more than a police procedural and more than a thriller. . . . You won't want to put [it] down."
--Detroit Free Press
" SOPHISTICATED . . . THOUGHT-PROVOKING . . . I read Monstrum at warp speed and with real pleasure."
--RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON
Author of No Safe Place
" MONSTRUM SUCCEEDS BRILLIANTLY AS A CRIME STORY, AS A POLITICAL THRILLER, AND AS PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE."
--Minneapolis Star Tribune
" THRILLING."
--People
" The thriller of the year. MONSTRUM combines the best of Fatherland and Gorky Park with a dash of Silence of the Lambs."
--The Times (London)

About this edition

• Publisher: Villard Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0679457704
• ISBN 13: 9780679457701
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 436