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Porfiry Rostnikov #4
A Fine Red Rain
The Veteran
Rostnikov. Once a hero in the great war against Fascism. Recently demoted after too-frequent clashes with the KGB. Someone is killing the stars of the Moscow circus—and it’s up to Rostnikov to stop the bloody show.
The Innocent
Sasha. He looks more like a kid than a cop. Which makes him the perfect undercover to penetrate an elusive black market network, with well-buried links to KGB corruption. The heat is on—as much on Sasha as on the entrepreneurial underground it’s his job to explode.
The Plodder
Karpo. Intelligent, determined, unimaginative, feared by criminals with good reason. A deadly stalker threatens the prostitutes of the city. Karpo thinks he sees a pattern. He knows he’ll find the murderer.
Rostnikov. Once a hero in the great war against Fascism. Recently demoted after too-frequent clashes with the KGB. Someone is killing the stars of the Moscow circus—and it’s up to Rostnikov to stop the bloody show.
The Innocent
Sasha. He looks more like a kid than a cop. Which makes him the perfect undercover to penetrate an elusive black market network, with well-buried links to KGB corruption. The heat is on—as much on Sasha as on the entrepreneurial underground it’s his job to explode.
The Plodder
Karpo. Intelligent, determined, unimaginative, feared by criminals with good reason. A deadly stalker threatens the prostitutes of the city. Karpo thinks he sees a pattern. He knows he’ll find the murderer.
194 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 16, 1987
135 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Stuart M. Kaminsky
161 books215 followersStuart M. Kaminsky wrote 50 published novels, 5 biographies, 4 textbooks and 35 short stories. He also has screenwriting credits on four produced films including ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, ENEMY TERRITORY, A WOMAN IN THE WIND and HIDDEN FEARS. He was a past president of the Mystery Writers of America and was nominated for six prestigious Edgar Allen Poe Awards including one for his short story “Snow” in 1999. He won an Edgar for his novel A COLD RED SUNRISE, which was also awarded the Prix De Roman D’Aventure of France. He was nominated for both a Shamus Award and a McCavity Readers Choice Award.
Kaminsky wrote several popular series including those featuring Lew Fonesca, Abraham Lieberman, Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, and Toby Peters. He also wrote two original "Rockford Files " novels. He was the 50th annual recipient of the Grandmaster 2006 for Lifetime Achievement from the Mystery Writers of America.
Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievement award) in 2007.
His nonfiction books including BASIC FILMMAKING, WRITING FOR TELEVISION, AMERICAN FILM GENRES, and biographies of GARY COOPER, CLINT EASTWOOD, JOHN HUSTON and DON SIEGEL. BEHIND THE MYSTERY was published by Hot House Press in 2005 and nominated by Mystery Writers of America for Best Critical/Biographical book in 2006.
Kaminsky held a B.S. in Journalism and an M.A. in English from The University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Speech from Northwestern University where he taught for 16 years before becoming a Professor at Florida State. where he headed the Graduate Conservatory in Film and Television Production. He left Florida State in 1994 to pursue full-time writing.
Kaminsky and his wife, Enid Perll, moved to St. Louis, Missouri in March 2009 to await a liver transplant to treat the hepatitis he contracted as an army medic in the late 1950s in France. He suffered a stroke two days after their arrival in St. Louis, which made him ineligible for a transplant. He died on October 9, 2009.
Kaminsky wrote several popular series including those featuring Lew Fonesca, Abraham Lieberman, Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, and Toby Peters. He also wrote two original "Rockford Files " novels. He was the 50th annual recipient of the Grandmaster 2006 for Lifetime Achievement from the Mystery Writers of America.
Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievement award) in 2007.
His nonfiction books including BASIC FILMMAKING, WRITING FOR TELEVISION, AMERICAN FILM GENRES, and biographies of GARY COOPER, CLINT EASTWOOD, JOHN HUSTON and DON SIEGEL. BEHIND THE MYSTERY was published by Hot House Press in 2005 and nominated by Mystery Writers of America for Best Critical/Biographical book in 2006.
Kaminsky held a B.S. in Journalism and an M.A. in English from The University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Speech from Northwestern University where he taught for 16 years before becoming a Professor at Florida State. where he headed the Graduate Conservatory in Film and Television Production. He left Florida State in 1994 to pursue full-time writing.
Kaminsky and his wife, Enid Perll, moved to St. Louis, Missouri in March 2009 to await a liver transplant to treat the hepatitis he contracted as an army medic in the late 1950s in France. He suffered a stroke two days after their arrival in St. Louis, which made him ineligible for a transplant. He died on October 9, 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
October 23, 2021
Team Work!
Rostnikov and his team are separated, but that doesn’t stop them from working together.
Sasha Tkach is working undercover to reign in black marketeers, but his corrupt supervisor is setting him up to be
the fall guy.
Emil Karpo is hunting down a serial killer and uses his prostitute girlfriend as bait.
Rostnikov has to resolve his suspicion that the accidental deaths of circus performers are really murder.
Kaminsky makes you feel you are living in Russia before perestroika and glasnost. He have you feel the fear and numbness many citizens felt.
Unfortunately, the corruption has not went away.
Five stars ✨✨✨✨✨
Rostnikov and his team are separated, but that doesn’t stop them from working together.
Sasha Tkach is working undercover to reign in black marketeers, but his corrupt supervisor is setting him up to be
the fall guy.
Emil Karpo is hunting down a serial killer and uses his prostitute girlfriend as bait.
Rostnikov has to resolve his suspicion that the accidental deaths of circus performers are really murder.
Kaminsky makes you feel you are living in Russia before perestroika and glasnost. He have you feel the fear and numbness many citizens felt.
Unfortunately, the corruption has not went away.
Five stars ✨✨✨✨✨
April 24, 2023
Ed McBain´s 87th precinct series are the best police procedural series ever,so when someone suggested this,as somewhat similiar and an homage to McBain,I was keen to read them.
Unfortunately,no comparison. While the chacarcters are well drawn,and the city/period,even better,it´s just not interesting. Three plot lines where,as soon as they´re presented, you know the culprit and motives make for a boring book.
Unfortunately,no comparison. While the chacarcters are well drawn,and the city/period,even better,it´s just not interesting. Three plot lines where,as soon as they´re presented, you know the culprit and motives make for a boring book.
November 22, 2022
Summary: When two of three high wire artist die, one by suicide, one by “accident,” Rostnikov suspects more, little realizing the reach of the KGB into this case while his friends Sasha deals with black marketers and Karpo pursues a serial murderer of prostitutes.
Porfiry Rostnikov, once a hero has been demoted after a clash with the KGB, separated from his team of Sasha Tkach and Emil Karpo. Rostnikov’s son has been sent to Afghanistan, a warning of what can happen to family of those crossing the KGB. Rostnikov is reduced to chasing pickpockets in Arbat Square when he spots a man atop a statue of Gogol, spouting nonsense about flying. Rostnikov fails to talk him down as he ends his life with a perfect somersault onto the pavement. He was an aerial artist for the circus where the other male in the act, Oleg, discovers in the last moment of his life that his safety net is not. Rostnikov, thinking that there is more than a concurrent suicide and accident going on, sets out to investigate, The third, Katya Rashkovskaya, doesn’t want to be protected, even after Rostnikov saves her life. Nor will she tell him anything she knows. Then his old KGB boss, dying of cancer warns him off the case. This is KGB territory. But he suspects the deputy director, Mazaraki is behind the deaths and the murder attempt, and he uses that angle to keep pursuing the case.
Meanwhile, Sasha’s undercover work trapping videotape and machine black marketers reveals corruption on the part of his boss. The boss turns the black marketers to his own profitable end. That is, until Sasha teams up with Rostnikov and the two black marketers to mount a sting.
Emil Karpo has an obsession with unsolved crimes, studying the files, brooding over them. His current file is that of a series of murders of a prostitute. We are introduced to the killer, a file clerk wanting to make the Party safe from prostitutes…and he is feeling the compulsion to kill again.
Rostnikov, despite his leg injury, ends up playing a decisive role in the denouement of all three cases, while Sasha intervenes at a decisive moment to save Rostnikov’s life during the climactic confrontation. Clearly this team belongs together, and Rostnikov manages to find the leverage to make that happen by the end.
Kaminsky moves between the three plots in a fast-paced novel. One sees the currency of knowledge that can be used to subdue, to manipulate, and even to murder. Rostnikov, not ignorant of these things surprises us in his apparent vulnerability, and shrewd intelligence, combined with a loyalty to his friends, each with their own vulnerabilities. We see how difficult it can be to be married to someone in law enforcement, compounded in Rostnikov’s case with the ever present danger of falling afoul of his own superiors. Perhaps the only thing that protects Rostnikov is his own humility, the realization that these things could come at any time, and that he is never above or beyond them.
Porfiry Rostnikov, once a hero has been demoted after a clash with the KGB, separated from his team of Sasha Tkach and Emil Karpo. Rostnikov’s son has been sent to Afghanistan, a warning of what can happen to family of those crossing the KGB. Rostnikov is reduced to chasing pickpockets in Arbat Square when he spots a man atop a statue of Gogol, spouting nonsense about flying. Rostnikov fails to talk him down as he ends his life with a perfect somersault onto the pavement. He was an aerial artist for the circus where the other male in the act, Oleg, discovers in the last moment of his life that his safety net is not. Rostnikov, thinking that there is more than a concurrent suicide and accident going on, sets out to investigate, The third, Katya Rashkovskaya, doesn’t want to be protected, even after Rostnikov saves her life. Nor will she tell him anything she knows. Then his old KGB boss, dying of cancer warns him off the case. This is KGB territory. But he suspects the deputy director, Mazaraki is behind the deaths and the murder attempt, and he uses that angle to keep pursuing the case.
Meanwhile, Sasha’s undercover work trapping videotape and machine black marketers reveals corruption on the part of his boss. The boss turns the black marketers to his own profitable end. That is, until Sasha teams up with Rostnikov and the two black marketers to mount a sting.
Emil Karpo has an obsession with unsolved crimes, studying the files, brooding over them. His current file is that of a series of murders of a prostitute. We are introduced to the killer, a file clerk wanting to make the Party safe from prostitutes…and he is feeling the compulsion to kill again.
Rostnikov, despite his leg injury, ends up playing a decisive role in the denouement of all three cases, while Sasha intervenes at a decisive moment to save Rostnikov’s life during the climactic confrontation. Clearly this team belongs together, and Rostnikov manages to find the leverage to make that happen by the end.
Kaminsky moves between the three plots in a fast-paced novel. One sees the currency of knowledge that can be used to subdue, to manipulate, and even to murder. Rostnikov, not ignorant of these things surprises us in his apparent vulnerability, and shrewd intelligence, combined with a loyalty to his friends, each with their own vulnerabilities. We see how difficult it can be to be married to someone in law enforcement, compounded in Rostnikov’s case with the ever present danger of falling afoul of his own superiors. Perhaps the only thing that protects Rostnikov is his own humility, the realization that these things could come at any time, and that he is never above or beyond them.
February 19, 2023
Kaminsky has three detective series of which I’ve read at least one of each and enjoyed them all. So far I like the Porfiry Rostnikov series the most. Perhaps because it’s a bit darker (almost anything would be darker than the Toby Peters books.) It almost can’t help that as it’s set in dreary Soviet era Russia. This being book 4 means I missed #2 and 3 as to how he got into the KGB’s doghouse. This just adds to the darkness, but it does still stand on its own. Even though it’s dubbed a “mystery” it really isn’t a who-done-it since we know the identities of the killers in two of the cases here and the person behind the corruption case. Not to worry there is still a big reveal in store at the end. The mystery ends up being how Porfiry figures it out and what he does about it in the corrupt and very political hinderances in his way. Also, how he can squeeze some semblance of justice out of this Soviet labyrinth. One fascinating detail is that one of the cases deals with a Russian circus. We learn that it is state run and trained. The performers are near elites with relatively decent pay, housing, lifetime retirement pensions, and other perks. Irony or analogy, I’m not quite sure.
October 17, 2024
I'm not sure how I got this book, probably on a sale somewhere, and I see that it is part of a series, and this is the first one I've read, and since the characters have a past that is probably known to people who have read earlier books in the series, I lost the plot.
The story is about a Moscow detective, Porphiry Rostnikov, investigating the suspicious deaths of two circus performers, and then being warned to back off because the case was of interest to the KGB. Two other detectives are investigating two other apparently unrelated crimes, but I suspect that you would have to be familiar with the relations between these detectives in earlier books in the series to be able to connect the dots of the plot.
It may be good as part of the series, but it's probably not good to read as a stand-alone.
The story is about a Moscow detective, Porphiry Rostnikov, investigating the suspicious deaths of two circus performers, and then being warned to back off because the case was of interest to the KGB. Two other detectives are investigating two other apparently unrelated crimes, but I suspect that you would have to be familiar with the relations between these detectives in earlier books in the series to be able to connect the dots of the plot.
It may be good as part of the series, but it's probably not good to read as a stand-alone.
January 11, 2021
Another delightful entry for Inspector Porfiry. The same basic formula as the last volume I read but that's not really a bad thing. Multiple story lines, family issues mixed in - the characters continue to interest and grow on me, and his working of the system is wonderful to see in action. The level of stress/danger doesn't seem to get overly high, and the quick resolutions fit in well with his stoic nature. Very much enjoying this find - and I have most of the rest of the series already downloaded and queued.
September 20, 2024
Russian cop tracks down the killers of circus folks.
The circus folks don't seem as weird in this book, as they would in a book set in America.
The circus folks don't seem as weird in this book, as they would in a book set in America.
November 6, 2021
'A Fine Red Rain', written all the way back in 1987, is a sparkling example of micro-level law enforcement in Communist Russia. The series' hero Porfiry Rostnikov is an interesting guy. He's a detective recently demoted for some offense that probably only made sense in Russia, somewhat crippled due to a WWII wound, built like a fireplug, and is an ex-champion weightlifter. His supporting characters are strong with Karpo being a personal favorite. He's tall, thin, hyper-analytical, humorless, resembles a vampire, and for some reason I always picture Richard Belzer when I think of him. Sacha, the third main guy, is a youngster on the rise and trying his best to keep up.
The author has given us an interesting mix of crimes to investigate. Someone is killing prostitutes but no one has yet connected the dots to show their commonality. Circus performers from Moscow's famed circus are dropping like flies (literally, in at least one case), and corruption is rampant in both daily life and among the big wheel politicians and policemen. As usual, Rostnikov is in the dog house but happens to witness a seemingly deranged and drunk circus performer attempt to 'fly'. Meanwhile Sacha is getting the bad assignments, one of which ends up being much juicier that expected. And Karpo strolls around town scaring the populace while putting his big brain to work in identifying a serial killer of prostitutes hiding in their midst. Although the 3 Amigo detectives actually work on different teams, they combine forces to make the necessary progress that will keep Mother Russia safe.
I've really enjoyed the Rostnikov series. I always like to hear about the different ways laws are enforced in other countries and the politics of Soviet Russia tends to add a massive filter through which everything passes. Rostnikov himself, who at one point tried to defect with his family, is a force to reckon with but also serves as a calming influence who has a lot on his mind. He has the experience and physicality, Karpo the intellect, and Sacha the youthful exuberance. Stuart Kaminsky is a prolific writer and I have much to go in this series before beginning one of his many others.
The author has given us an interesting mix of crimes to investigate. Someone is killing prostitutes but no one has yet connected the dots to show their commonality. Circus performers from Moscow's famed circus are dropping like flies (literally, in at least one case), and corruption is rampant in both daily life and among the big wheel politicians and policemen. As usual, Rostnikov is in the dog house but happens to witness a seemingly deranged and drunk circus performer attempt to 'fly'. Meanwhile Sacha is getting the bad assignments, one of which ends up being much juicier that expected. And Karpo strolls around town scaring the populace while putting his big brain to work in identifying a serial killer of prostitutes hiding in their midst. Although the 3 Amigo detectives actually work on different teams, they combine forces to make the necessary progress that will keep Mother Russia safe.
I've really enjoyed the Rostnikov series. I always like to hear about the different ways laws are enforced in other countries and the politics of Soviet Russia tends to add a massive filter through which everything passes. Rostnikov himself, who at one point tried to defect with his family, is a force to reckon with but also serves as a calming influence who has a lot on his mind. He has the experience and physicality, Karpo the intellect, and Sacha the youthful exuberance. Stuart Kaminsky is a prolific writer and I have much to go in this series before beginning one of his many others.
June 20, 2019
I am reading this series in Order, and find that like the Abe Lieberman mysteries, and the other Kaminsky books that I have read, that I thoroughly enjoy the characters and look forward to reading more of the books in the series.
April 9, 2022
Kaminsky has written another enjoyable Inspector Rostnikov novel, with three major plot lines involving the Inspector and his former subordinates, Karpo and Tkach. Rostnikov has been moved to a much less important position with the MVD investigating relatively minor crimes while Karpo and Tkach remain in the procurator's office. Yet the three manage to work together, help each other and solve crimes.
The books in this series highlight the continuous threats faced by Rostnikov and the other investigators, not just from the criminals, but from the bureaucracy, its crooked managers and from the KGB. So life is a constant challenge, one involving coming up with ways to at least keep these threats at bay. Kaminsky's characters are well developed and one can't help but feel like commiserating with Rostnikov over a good dinner and some wine.
The books in this series highlight the continuous threats faced by Rostnikov and the other investigators, not just from the criminals, but from the bureaucracy, its crooked managers and from the KGB. So life is a constant challenge, one involving coming up with ways to at least keep these threats at bay. Kaminsky's characters are well developed and one can't help but feel like commiserating with Rostnikov over a good dinner and some wine.
February 14, 2020
I am increasingly liking this series, primarily because of the recurring characters and the sense of place. The plots can be meandering with missing resolutions, but are interesting choices that also lend reality to the sense of time, 1980s Moscow. I liked yhe plot lines in this particular book butfound the resolutions too quick and easy without follow-up. Also, in the entire series the author switches from place, time, & character to others very unexpectedly from one paragraph to thd next eith no transitions or chapter change. It’s disconcerting and pulls you out of the book shile you flounder around trying to figure out who is speaking / acting.
June 29, 2020
I seem to have gotten into Russian detective fiction this year. There's something about these isolated, uncorrupt cops trying to hold on to a belief in justice and morality in the face of pervasive resignation and hopelessness that feels very apt to this moment.
I learned a Russian phrase in this book: "... nichevo, the Russian word for nothing, which conveyed resignation, stoicism, the idea that whatever might be the problem, you shouldn't let it get to you. Life is too full of explosions. One cannot allow oneself to be destroyed by fear of them."
I learned a Russian phrase in this book: "... nichevo, the Russian word for nothing, which conveyed resignation, stoicism, the idea that whatever might be the problem, you shouldn't let it get to you. Life is too full of explosions. One cannot allow oneself to be destroyed by fear of them."
January 15, 2023
Feels like the same story as in the first two in this series, just the murderers changed. The characters are interesting; empathetic Rostnikov who alienates the brass and suffers for it, scary Karpo and innocent Tkach.
July 17, 2025
The usual suspects, Maltilde gets a walk-on that is humorous and poignant.
Ending was a bit … up in the air ? Or did my kindle download contain an error and the ending IS out there for the circus ring leader.
Ending was a bit … up in the air ? Or did my kindle download contain an error and the ending IS out there for the circus ring leader.
February 16, 2019
Good story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 11, 2019
I am reading this series in order. I find it gets better with every book. I am looking forward to continuing this series.
August 4, 2020
Novel by a Northwestern University professor. Well done.
October 13, 2020
I don’t know if there’s an inspector I’d rather run with (metaphorically - The Washtub doesn’t run) than Rostnikov.
December 26, 2020
Excellent fourth book! The characters continue to develop and the reader learns more about the Politburo.
July 25, 2021
It was slow moving to begin with, but provided that ultimate thrill.
October 14, 2021
Laugh at loud funny at moments, this is a wonderful, quirky, sly series.
January 5, 2022
Inspector Rostnikov investigates suspicious deaths of acrobats at the Moscow Circus. I'm looking forward to reading more in this series of mysteries set in the 1980s Soviet Union.
June 3, 2022
Continuam as aventures do tovaritz Rostnikov, desta feita nesse ex-líbris Russo que é o circo.
June 20, 2023
I really liked it. Good Narrative, good reader.
October 24, 2025
Rostnikov manages to solve the crimes he is working on while manipulating incompetent superiors into improving his own situation.
July 24, 2013
By accident I read this slightly out of order. I should have read this before A Cold Red Sunrise. A few small things happen here that better explain where Rostnikov and his comrades are in relation to Red Sunrise.
By the start of this installment in the series Porfiry has begun to mellow a little bit (much like the inspector I've me in the later books that I have read). He sees himself as unfailingly Russian. Someone who accepts that life is. That life is not always fair, that the KGB has him on its crap list, and he no longer has his senior inspector rank with the Procurator General's office (nor will he). Instead he finds himself standing in the rain trying to stop a man from jumping to his death from a statute of Gogol.
As is usual in a Rostnikov story Sasha and Karpo each has their own cases going on, and this is not so much a mystery tale as one that involves the circus and the affairs that prevent Soviet policemen from doing their job. Meanwhile Porfiry rediscovers his love for the circus.
Much appreciated is how Mathilde humanizes Karpo a little during the course of his investigation. Thankfully Blood and Rubles is several books away.
By the start of this installment in the series Porfiry has begun to mellow a little bit (much like the inspector I've me in the later books that I have read). He sees himself as unfailingly Russian. Someone who accepts that life is. That life is not always fair, that the KGB has him on its crap list, and he no longer has his senior inspector rank with the Procurator General's office (nor will he). Instead he finds himself standing in the rain trying to stop a man from jumping to his death from a statute of Gogol.
As is usual in a Rostnikov story Sasha and Karpo each has their own cases going on, and this is not so much a mystery tale as one that involves the circus and the affairs that prevent Soviet policemen from doing their job. Meanwhile Porfiry rediscovers his love for the circus.
Much appreciated is how Mathilde humanizes Karpo a little during the course of his investigation. Thankfully Blood and Rubles is several books away.
March 9, 2016
I am on a Stuart Kaminsky streak right now; I will be so sad when I have run out of books.
As I read each novel I become more fond of his three dimensional characters and his wonderful technique of keeping a few crimes/mysteries going at once. The endings are so tidy. And I really enjoy sojourning safely in Russia, so aware of the work of the KGB but safely immune from it.
Kaminsky's "Porfiry Rostnikov" series is all basically based in Russia, but at different times. This book is set in Boris Yeltsin's era if I remember correctly. It is interesting to read the different conditions the detectives must operate under; yet human nature remains the same, whether for good or for ill.
My favorite plot line in this book is the slowly redeeming relationship between Porfiry and a dying official in the KGB. Their final interaction is very moving, and the delicate gamesmanship it's taken to get there is satisfyingly real.
Recommended for all those Porfiry Rostnikov fans out there, of which there should be more.
As I read each novel I become more fond of his three dimensional characters and his wonderful technique of keeping a few crimes/mysteries going at once. The endings are so tidy. And I really enjoy sojourning safely in Russia, so aware of the work of the KGB but safely immune from it.
Kaminsky's "Porfiry Rostnikov" series is all basically based in Russia, but at different times. This book is set in Boris Yeltsin's era if I remember correctly. It is interesting to read the different conditions the detectives must operate under; yet human nature remains the same, whether for good or for ill.
My favorite plot line in this book is the slowly redeeming relationship between Porfiry and a dying official in the KGB. Their final interaction is very moving, and the delicate gamesmanship it's taken to get there is satisfyingly real.
Recommended for all those Porfiry Rostnikov fans out there, of which there should be more.
January 28, 2017
I saw this book at Savers the other day, and I though a mystery in the 80s Soviet Union would be pretty fun. The book, is, in fact, three fairly loosely connected stories, and there is only 1 murder(And a Suicide), rather than what the cover suggests.
That said, they are really good short stories. The three policemen that are the main characters are great, and Kaminsky captures the USSR at the time (at least, what I picture) perfectly. So much so that I suspect cultural accuracy is perhaps embellished or even sacrificed for movie stereotypes. The mood works perfectly though, and since I don't really know exactly where real life Soviet traits end and the tropes begin, I was pretty amused. Definitely could have been 5 stars as a short collection... the fact that there were several massively awkward lead in/lead out bits when going from one to another was really the only down side.
That said, they are really good short stories. The three policemen that are the main characters are great, and Kaminsky captures the USSR at the time (at least, what I picture) perfectly. So much so that I suspect cultural accuracy is perhaps embellished or even sacrificed for movie stereotypes. The mood works perfectly though, and since I don't really know exactly where real life Soviet traits end and the tropes begin, I was pretty amused. Definitely could have been 5 stars as a short collection... the fact that there were several massively awkward lead in/lead out bits when going from one to another was really the only down side.
May 5, 2014
I really liked this book. The descriptions of the bureaucratic infighting of the Moscow police force, the clique of circus performers, the dread of being interviewed by the KGB, kept me hooked. It gave a view into life in communist Russia during the Gorbachev era. It was also a pretty good mystery. He rotated several plot lines without confusing me. One of the characters surprised me when.... Oh I can't tell you. I love surprises though.
Some reviewers said the book was too slow. I can't believe that. How fast do you want a book to read? Do you want it over it two pages. Well to each his own. I look forward to reading more of this series.
Some reviewers said the book was too slow. I can't believe that. How fast do you want a book to read? Do you want it over it two pages. Well to each his own. I look forward to reading more of this series.
January 28, 2016
Excellent, as always. The strong sense of what it's like to live in Moscow, always treading a fine line between personal freedom (totally forbidden by the government) and the rules.
"When we see the back of an individual contorted in fear and bent in humiliation, we cannot but look around and doubt our very existence, feating lest we lose ourselves. But on seeing a fearless acrobat in bright costume, we forget ourselves, feeling that we have somehow risen above ourselves and reached the level of universal strength. Then we can breathe easier."
"When we see the back of an individual contorted in fear and bent in humiliation, we cannot but look around and doubt our very existence, feating lest we lose ourselves. But on seeing a fearless acrobat in bright costume, we forget ourselves, feeling that we have somehow risen above ourselves and reached the level of universal strength. Then we can breathe easier."
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews