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Constantin Vadim #2
The Fortune Teller
Hardcover. Signed by author on title page, with small amount of correction fluid nearby. First edition, first printing. Unclipped jacket shows no significant wear; page block and page edges are tanned, with one or two minor imperfections on the former. A very good copy. TS
432 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
About the author
Donald James
54 books17 followersDonald James (born Donald James Wheal) was a British television writer, novelist and non-fiction writer.
Educated at Sloane Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge (where he read history), James completed his National Service in the Parachute Regiment before returning to London to work as a supply teacher.
He was the author of the best-selling novels Vadim, Monstrum, The Fortune Teller and The Fall of the Russian Empire, as well as non-fiction books such as The Penguin Dictionary of the Third Reich. He wrote under a number of pseudonyms, notably Thomas Dresden and James Barwick (originally in collaboration with fellow writer Tony Barwick, another long-term contributor to the various television productions of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and their company, AP Films/Century 21).
James's career as a scriptwriter included work on TV series such as The Adventurer, The Avengers, The Champions, Department S, Joe 90, Mission: Impossible, The Persuaders!, The Protectors, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Saint, The Secret Service, Space: 1999, Terrahawks and UFO. He wrote for a total of 22 titles, including the Century 21 film Doppelgänger, and acted in small three roles between 1961 and 1962.
After spending periods in France and Ireland, he returned to London. His autobiographical account of London life during World War II, World's End, was published in 2005. A second volume of memoirs, White City, was published in March 2007.
James died in London on 24 April 2008. Married three times and divorced once, he is survived by twin daughters
Educated at Sloane Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge (where he read history), James completed his National Service in the Parachute Regiment before returning to London to work as a supply teacher.
He was the author of the best-selling novels Vadim, Monstrum, The Fortune Teller and The Fall of the Russian Empire, as well as non-fiction books such as The Penguin Dictionary of the Third Reich. He wrote under a number of pseudonyms, notably Thomas Dresden and James Barwick (originally in collaboration with fellow writer Tony Barwick, another long-term contributor to the various television productions of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and their company, AP Films/Century 21).
James's career as a scriptwriter included work on TV series such as The Adventurer, The Avengers, The Champions, Department S, Joe 90, Mission: Impossible, The Persuaders!, The Protectors, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Saint, The Secret Service, Space: 1999, Terrahawks and UFO. He wrote for a total of 22 titles, including the Century 21 film Doppelgänger, and acted in small three roles between 1961 and 1962.
After spending periods in France and Ireland, he returned to London. His autobiographical account of London life during World War II, World's End, was published in 2005. A second volume of memoirs, White City, was published in March 2007.
James died in London on 24 April 2008. Married three times and divorced once, he is survived by twin daughters
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 2, 2021
I do enjoy a crime thriller novel, but with so many in the genre, it’s hard to find something that offers anything truly different. This means that when I find a novel that seems to suggest something out of the ordinary, I’m always keen to give it a try. More often than not, this also involves finding a new author, as established writers often stick to their tried and tested writing styles, particularly if these have proved successful in the past.
What attracted me to Donald James’ “The Fortune Teller” was not the storyline as much as the setting, as it is set in the Arctic Russian city of Murmansk. In a city where corruption is endemic, Inspector Constantin Vadim is a rare honest man in the police force and one of the few other honest men has offered him a new position. It has some appeal, but as he is considering the offer, his wife has vanished and there are rumours that she may have absconded with her lover. Vadim is arrested as a suspect and has to call on his old contacts, many of who don’t share his integrity, as well as a fortune teller from a local carnival, to find her.
“The Fortune Teller” is a wonderfully layered story, with plenty of false leads and clues appearing from various places. The hints from the fortune teller themselves are always intriguing, but James works in a way that means they don’t always come to fruition immediately, leading to plenty of delayed gratification and the realisation of a throw away clue many pages previously turned out to be relevant, even after the characters had dismissed it as the words of a crank. The mixing of the crime narrative, as well as the political situation at the time and the corruption within the system add further layers and false leads, giving the novel a lot of detail as well as being an interesting look at how the Russian system did or didn’t work.
The characters were well drawn as well, with some of them having layers that you don’t expect. Constantin himself struggles to maintain his honesty and equilibrium as he is so close to the investigation. Although he does descend into the darker side of his nature, you can feel this doesn’t come naturally to him and feel the struggle of him keeping his head above water in terms of maintaining his integrity. His realisation that some of the people he has trusted weren’t deserving of his time or belief and discovering that he perhaps isn’t the person he believed he was when put under pressure was interesting.
Sadly, there were a couple of moments where the standard crime thriller cliches come into play, particularly with the relationship between Constantin and Abby. Admittedly, this is offset by the more interesting relationship between Constantin and V. I. Lenin, but there were moments where things did get slightly predictable. There were also situations which suggested previous relationships, particularly between Constantin and Roy and Constantin and Dronsky which hint towards James’ earlier novel but do cause a bit of an interruption to the flow as the reader has to wonder what they have missed.
This aside, “The Fortune Teller” is a decent novel, with the writing and layering of the plot very nicely done. Add to this the unusual setting and political landscape of Arctic Russia, which makes things a little more varied and also make the weather a witness and an antagonist at points, which are rarely seen in novels. The differences from standard British and American crime thrillers were what first attracted me to the novel and were, ultimately, what made it a success.
What attracted me to Donald James’ “The Fortune Teller” was not the storyline as much as the setting, as it is set in the Arctic Russian city of Murmansk. In a city where corruption is endemic, Inspector Constantin Vadim is a rare honest man in the police force and one of the few other honest men has offered him a new position. It has some appeal, but as he is considering the offer, his wife has vanished and there are rumours that she may have absconded with her lover. Vadim is arrested as a suspect and has to call on his old contacts, many of who don’t share his integrity, as well as a fortune teller from a local carnival, to find her.
“The Fortune Teller” is a wonderfully layered story, with plenty of false leads and clues appearing from various places. The hints from the fortune teller themselves are always intriguing, but James works in a way that means they don’t always come to fruition immediately, leading to plenty of delayed gratification and the realisation of a throw away clue many pages previously turned out to be relevant, even after the characters had dismissed it as the words of a crank. The mixing of the crime narrative, as well as the political situation at the time and the corruption within the system add further layers and false leads, giving the novel a lot of detail as well as being an interesting look at how the Russian system did or didn’t work.
The characters were well drawn as well, with some of them having layers that you don’t expect. Constantin himself struggles to maintain his honesty and equilibrium as he is so close to the investigation. Although he does descend into the darker side of his nature, you can feel this doesn’t come naturally to him and feel the struggle of him keeping his head above water in terms of maintaining his integrity. His realisation that some of the people he has trusted weren’t deserving of his time or belief and discovering that he perhaps isn’t the person he believed he was when put under pressure was interesting.
Sadly, there were a couple of moments where the standard crime thriller cliches come into play, particularly with the relationship between Constantin and Abby. Admittedly, this is offset by the more interesting relationship between Constantin and V. I. Lenin, but there were moments where things did get slightly predictable. There were also situations which suggested previous relationships, particularly between Constantin and Roy and Constantin and Dronsky which hint towards James’ earlier novel but do cause a bit of an interruption to the flow as the reader has to wonder what they have missed.
This aside, “The Fortune Teller” is a decent novel, with the writing and layering of the plot very nicely done. Add to this the unusual setting and political landscape of Arctic Russia, which makes things a little more varied and also make the weather a witness and an antagonist at points, which are rarely seen in novels. The differences from standard British and American crime thrillers were what first attracted me to the novel and were, ultimately, what made it a success.
March 6, 2026
Gatara nas uvodi ponovo u svet detektiva Konstantina Vadima, čoveka čija oštra intuicija i nepokolebljiva radoznalost postaju svetionik u svetu u kojem se istina i laž mešaju poput senki u noći. Radnja nas vodi u hladni, udaljeni Murmansk, grad u kojem led nije jedina prepreka – korupcija i spletke teže jednako kao zimski vetrovi, a pravda je retko iskustvo, i često prekrivena slojevima nepoverenja.
Ovaj deo mi se nekako malo više dopao, iako je prvi takodje stacioniran u Rusiji, većinom Moskvi, drugi deo je vezan za hladan arktički grad Murmansk .
Detektiv će posetiti gataru , u koju i sam ne veruje, a ona će krenuti da priča zagonetno .
Počeće priču o saturnu i jupiteru, a na kraju škorpionu i o tome kako će se nešto strašno desiti njegovoj ženi.
Zbog toga ovo delo uplivava u misteriju malo dublje, jer će gatara reći stvari koje će uzdrmati detektiva koji je istinski želeo da odbaci sva njena upozorenja, sve dok njegova žena nije nestala.
U srcu ove priče je Vadimova potraga za nestalom suprugom, koja ga suočava sa njegovim sopstvenim ograničenjima i slabostima. Njegova osetljivost na nepravdu i moralni kompas, koji ga izdvaja od većine oko njega, sada se testira: mora da balansira između ličnih poroka, senki prošlosti i nepredvidivih događaja koji ga okružuju. Svaka njegova odluka će ga uvoditi u još dublji lavirint.
Naziv knjige, Gatara, simbolizuje neizvesnost i sudbinu – starica koja čita znakove i predviđa puteve života, ali njene reči nisu uvek jasne niti odmah očigledne. One nude nagoveštaje i misterije, otvarajući vrata ka tajnama grada i ljudskih srca, i čine da čitalac sam korača stazama predosećanja i sumnje.
Ono što posebno fascinira je mračna, arktička atmosfera Murmanska, gde zima i vetrovi gotovo postaju živi svedoci, ponekad saveznici, ponekad protivnici, i gde svaki ugao grada nosi potencijalnu pretnju ili ključ za razotkrivanje misterije. U ovom romanu, kriminalna priča je isprepletena sa političkim spletom i ljudskom psihologijom, a Vadim, iako blizak mračnijoj strani ljudske prirode, ostaje lik kroz čije oči čitalac oseća napetost, moralnu borbu i neizvesnost života.
Gatara je roman koji mami radoznalost, koji ne nudi jednostavne odgovore, već poziva na promišljanje o ljudima, izborima i svetu koji ih oblikuje – a sve to kroz priču koja je jednako napeta, zagonetna i poetična, poput snežne oluje koja skriva tajne dok ih istovremeno čini ogromnima.
Ovaj deo mi se nekako malo više dopao, iako je prvi takodje stacioniran u Rusiji, većinom Moskvi, drugi deo je vezan za hladan arktički grad Murmansk .
Detektiv će posetiti gataru , u koju i sam ne veruje, a ona će krenuti da priča zagonetno .
Počeće priču o saturnu i jupiteru, a na kraju škorpionu i o tome kako će se nešto strašno desiti njegovoj ženi.
Zbog toga ovo delo uplivava u misteriju malo dublje, jer će gatara reći stvari koje će uzdrmati detektiva koji je istinski želeo da odbaci sva njena upozorenja, sve dok njegova žena nije nestala.
U srcu ove priče je Vadimova potraga za nestalom suprugom, koja ga suočava sa njegovim sopstvenim ograničenjima i slabostima. Njegova osetljivost na nepravdu i moralni kompas, koji ga izdvaja od većine oko njega, sada se testira: mora da balansira između ličnih poroka, senki prošlosti i nepredvidivih događaja koji ga okružuju. Svaka njegova odluka će ga uvoditi u još dublji lavirint.
Naziv knjige, Gatara, simbolizuje neizvesnost i sudbinu – starica koja čita znakove i predviđa puteve života, ali njene reči nisu uvek jasne niti odmah očigledne. One nude nagoveštaje i misterije, otvarajući vrata ka tajnama grada i ljudskih srca, i čine da čitalac sam korača stazama predosećanja i sumnje.
Ono što posebno fascinira je mračna, arktička atmosfera Murmanska, gde zima i vetrovi gotovo postaju živi svedoci, ponekad saveznici, ponekad protivnici, i gde svaki ugao grada nosi potencijalnu pretnju ili ključ za razotkrivanje misterije. U ovom romanu, kriminalna priča je isprepletena sa političkim spletom i ljudskom psihologijom, a Vadim, iako blizak mračnijoj strani ljudske prirode, ostaje lik kroz čije oči čitalac oseća napetost, moralnu borbu i neizvesnost života.
Gatara je roman koji mami radoznalost, koji ne nudi jednostavne odgovore, već poziva na promišljanje o ljudima, izborima i svetu koji ih oblikuje – a sve to kroz priču koja je jednako napeta, zagonetna i poetična, poput snežne oluje koja skriva tajne dok ih istovremeno čini ogromnima.
August 25, 2021
It has been a long time since I first read this book (probably in 2000) and, since this is set in 20917, the world has changed somewhat from how James foretells in this book. Nonetheless, it is a really cracking tale, with quite a few twists and turns, abouyt a post-civil war Russia in Murmansk. The phrase "un-put-downable" is much overused, but in all honesty I got through this in two evenings, reading until late into the night.A thoroughly recommendable read.
March 3, 2019
Interesting enough.
January 7, 2012
Mystery/detective thriller set in Murmansk in the year 2017. A detective battling corruption, warped individuals from Russia’s tortured past, and simple bloody-mindedness, while trying to find his wife’s attacker and uncover a trade in child slavery. Absolutely brilliant. Good storyline, well structured, believable characters. A page-turner with depth, like a young John le Carre.
October 21, 2010
I have to say I really enjoyed this book. I didn't think it was on par with Gorky Park, as one blurb suggested, but it was definitely a well written mystery. I'd like to go back and read his first book with the main character, if I can find it over here.
December 23, 2014
He should have built the plot more
March 14, 2016
Strangely low average mark for a well written and researched book with a dark and frighteningly real tale. Unfortunately, half way through, I discovered that Mr James is no longer with us. Bugger!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews