A Long Night of Chaos

Can one man stop a war?

In the vacuum left by the break-up of the Soviet Union, long-suppressed national rivalries are poised to wreak havoc.

A leading Communist contacts Olympic hero Ruslan Shanidza. He begs him to return to his newly-independent homeland and use his popularity among different ethnic groups to halt the slide to civil war.

So begins a fraught peace mission that takes Ruslan deep into the conflict zone. But how far can he trust his Communist ally? What is his real agenda? And how can Ruslan protect himself against the brutal fanatics on both sides who want him out of the way so they can get on with their war?

This second Ruslan Shanidza novel follows on from The Price of Dreams but can be enjoyed without reading the first book. It is a political thriller rooted in time and place that reads like historical fiction.

"Few novels start as savagely and alarmingly as this…The place is the northern Caucasus; the time the murderous period of chaos left by the collapse of the Soviet Union…Events in 'Ksordia-Akhtaria' are not only a guide to the recent past but – unhappily – to the bloodshed and intrigue of the likely future."
Neal Ascherson, author of Black Sea and The Polish August.

"…melds themes of conflict, loss, and love in this politically charged thriller that arrests the reader's attention from the first page…solid characters…the most endearing and relatable thing about them is their humanity…an exhilarating read"
OnlineBookClub.org Official Review

"An energetic continuation of the Ruslan Shanidza story from The Price of Dreams. Political intrigue, personal vendettas, believable characters, interesting plot twists."
EP Goodreads Reviewer

Length 253 pages.