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Inspector Nergui #2
The Adversary
For more than twenty years a hidden hand has ruled the backstreets of Ulan Baatar, but now Muunokhoi, the once untouchable head of the Mongolia's largest and most powerful criminal empire, has finally been caught. It should be the Serious Crime Team's finest hour. But nothing is ever that simple in the new Mongolia. When Muunokhoi's trial starts to collapse, Nergui and Doripalam - the ex-head of the Team and his one-time protégé - are forced to acknowledge that something rotten lies at the heart of the organization they have dedicated their lives to. With the crime lord's acquittal impending, and his revenge a cold certainty, Nergui and Doripalam are not even sure they can trust each other.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 30, 2007
13 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Michael Walters
59 books10 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Aka Alex Walters
Michael Walters has worked in the oil industry, broadcasting and banking. Over the last decade, he has worked as a management consultant across the world, in environments ranging from parliaments to prisons. When not travelling, he lives in Manchester with his wife and three children.
Series:
* Inspector Nergui
Aka Alex Walters
Michael Walters has worked in the oil industry, broadcasting and banking. Over the last decade, he has worked as a management consultant across the world, in environments ranging from parliaments to prisons. When not travelling, he lives in Manchester with his wife and three children.
Series:
* Inspector Nergui
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 29, 2018
A Tense Atmospheric Thriller ...Stunning
When the trial of a vicious criminal collapses Doripalam is angry , upset and almost on the verge of resigning from the force.Nergui who is landed with the job of investigating as to why this happened, knows there are dark forces at work here.As the story unfolds there is tension and suspicion is rife ...who can be trusted ? Nergui has his workload cut out but who can he trust? Set in Mongolia... This is a Tense, dark atmospheric thriller that takes the reader on a journey from the city to the mountains of Burengilin Nuruu....The Second in the series....A Stunning read from a Master Storyteller.
When the trial of a vicious criminal collapses Doripalam is angry , upset and almost on the verge of resigning from the force.Nergui who is landed with the job of investigating as to why this happened, knows there are dark forces at work here.As the story unfolds there is tension and suspicion is rife ...who can be trusted ? Nergui has his workload cut out but who can he trust? Set in Mongolia... This is a Tense, dark atmospheric thriller that takes the reader on a journey from the city to the mountains of Burengilin Nuruu....The Second in the series....A Stunning read from a Master Storyteller.
July 16, 2019
I have been without a computer - and, therefore, my Kindle - for three weeks so, as a result, I have been haunting local bookstores in search of books to feed my reading addiction.
It´s been a hard search because I live in Spain and finding English-language novels isn´t easy, as you can well imagine. As a result I´ve spent a fair amount of time in used-book stores and that, as it turns out, has led me to some really interesting authors who, I´m sorry to say, I hadn´t heard of in the past.
Michael Walters is a case in point. I found his novel ¨The Adversary¨ on one of my rambles and absolutely loved it for its exotic setting, interesting characters, and twisty plot.
Published in 2007, it´s a crime novel that´s set in Mongolia.
(Yes, that´s right - Mongolia.)
Putting the location aside for just a moment, let me say that ¨The Adversary¨ is a well-plotted story of the hunt for the head of a major crime syndicate; a man who has used his wealth and power to corrupt public officials and the police as a means of staying out of jail.
The corruption runs so deep, in fact, that the two men charged with trying to bring the crime boss down aren´t sure they can even trust one another.
Walters has a well-honed narrative voice, which moves the story along quickly and efficiently without a lot of wasted words. That said, I´d be remiss if I didn´t also point out that his descriptions of Mongolia are fascinating and important to the storyline in much the same way that Arthur Upfield´s novels about Australia and Tony Hillerman´s Navajo police stories are. The landscape helps to shape the investigation and Walters does a good job of helping the reader understand exactly why.
The three primary characters in the novel are each, in their own way, very well drawn. Muunokhoi, the criminal boss, is relentless and ruthless. He is something of a public figure but there are few people who really know him. Pitted against him are two honest cops: Nergui and Doripalam. Nergui is the senior officer, a detective who pursued Muunokhoi for two decades without success before moving into a job with the Mongolian government. Doripalam was once his protege and now has his former boss´s old job. Their relationship is central to the storyline.
Walters has also developed some interesting secondary characters, including a female judge with a tenuous connection to the crime boss, and a bright young officer that Doripalam thinks might one day head up his department.
Put together, ¨The Adversary¨ is a fascinating read well worth five stars.
It´s been a hard search because I live in Spain and finding English-language novels isn´t easy, as you can well imagine. As a result I´ve spent a fair amount of time in used-book stores and that, as it turns out, has led me to some really interesting authors who, I´m sorry to say, I hadn´t heard of in the past.
Michael Walters is a case in point. I found his novel ¨The Adversary¨ on one of my rambles and absolutely loved it for its exotic setting, interesting characters, and twisty plot.
Published in 2007, it´s a crime novel that´s set in Mongolia.
(Yes, that´s right - Mongolia.)
Putting the location aside for just a moment, let me say that ¨The Adversary¨ is a well-plotted story of the hunt for the head of a major crime syndicate; a man who has used his wealth and power to corrupt public officials and the police as a means of staying out of jail.
The corruption runs so deep, in fact, that the two men charged with trying to bring the crime boss down aren´t sure they can even trust one another.
Walters has a well-honed narrative voice, which moves the story along quickly and efficiently without a lot of wasted words. That said, I´d be remiss if I didn´t also point out that his descriptions of Mongolia are fascinating and important to the storyline in much the same way that Arthur Upfield´s novels about Australia and Tony Hillerman´s Navajo police stories are. The landscape helps to shape the investigation and Walters does a good job of helping the reader understand exactly why.
The three primary characters in the novel are each, in their own way, very well drawn. Muunokhoi, the criminal boss, is relentless and ruthless. He is something of a public figure but there are few people who really know him. Pitted against him are two honest cops: Nergui and Doripalam. Nergui is the senior officer, a detective who pursued Muunokhoi for two decades without success before moving into a job with the Mongolian government. Doripalam was once his protege and now has his former boss´s old job. Their relationship is central to the storyline.
Walters has also developed some interesting secondary characters, including a female judge with a tenuous connection to the crime boss, and a bright young officer that Doripalam thinks might one day head up his department.
Put together, ¨The Adversary¨ is a fascinating read well worth five stars.
August 27, 2018
After the fall of the Soviet Union (and during the 70 years of the USSR) crime gangs were active. Walters tells a story that is easy to read and to visualise. He ventures into areas such as corruption in the police force, contemporary life and yurt living across the steppe landscape of the country. I think students of Central Asia and Mongolia would enjoy this book. Fiction might at times help us to think differently about non-western societies in ways that non-fiction struggles to do.
January 27, 2019
Splendid, exotic Asian setting. So much intrigue and corruption in this Ulan Baatar mystery. Walters must have spent time in Mongolia to write so well and with such detail. Would have liked more on food, smells and sights to add to the landscape and weather. I have Shadow Walker somewhere and must read it; and I need to get #3, The Outcast. Would that there were more....
August 1, 2011
Interesting sequel featuring Det Nergui, the setting in Mongolia marks this series out as something different. The ending was a little predictable but overall this was a satisfying read, recommended for those looking for something light and different.
September 23, 2011
I did not find the characters easy to care about. I kept thinking I should rereading the first book because it made more sense, but eventually after meandering the story comes together.
March 12, 2012
Interesting story set in Mongolia. It could have been London or New York except for the characters names.
March 6, 2013
This was a blast! Mongolia - nothing wrong with that. I love reading mysteries set in foreign locales, and this was about the most foreign mystery I've yet read. And it was very good.
January 4, 2014
Till now the story is catching, but I wish the names are a bit easier !
June 27, 2016
Detective Nergui in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Great character a bit like Colombo battling crime and corruption in the police.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews