The Stolen Heart
A Novel
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- $299.00
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- $299.00
Descripción editorial
“[An] extraordinary sequel . . . Distinguished by its humor, heart, and subtle political urgency, this series deserves a long life.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“[The Kyiv Mysteries] provide timely lessons for anyone living under an oppressive regime.” —The Atlantic
“Andrey Kurkov is often called Ukraine's greatest living writer, and it is a gift for crime fiction fans that he writes in this genre.”—New York Times Book Review
In the follow-up to The Silver Bone, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2024, Samson Kolechko must rescue his kidnapped fiancée while investigating the illegal sale of meat in lawless 1920s Kyiv— based on a real-life case.
Samson Kolechko and his colleague have been dispatched to investigate the illegal sale of meat. How selling cuts of one’s own livestock qualifies as a crime eludes the young investigator, but an order is an order, and, at the insistence of the secret police officer assigned to “reinforce” the Lybid police station, Samson vows to do his very best.
But just as Samson is beginning to dig into the very meat of this case, his live-in fiancée Nadezhda is abducted by striking railway workers who object to the census she's carrying out. Complicating matters, the police station has been infiltrated by a mysterious thief, a deadly tram accident—which may have been premeditated—disrupts the city, and, to top it all, the culprit from Samson’s “silver bone” investigation may have resurfaced.
Against this backdrop, it’s no wonder the “meat case” takes a backseat. Yet, despite the rising danger, the detective cannot let himself be distracted from his dogged pursuit of the seemingly mundane matter of the meat sellers, for ultimately his fate, and Nadezhda's too, rests on it.
Translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Novice Ukrainian police investigator Samson Kolechko scrambles to track down his missing fiancée in Kurkov's extraordinary sequel to The Silver Bone. In post-WWI Kyiv, sensitive Samson's new job gives him a solid chance of surviving his "restless, dangerous, and hungry" era, but his empathy for his fellow man often threatens to get him fired. Though Samson and his colleague, ex-priest Kholodny, are charged with investigating illegal meat sales, Samson is bewildered that peasants turning intestines into pies are breaking the law. He reluctantly carries out his duties anyway, until he learns that his fiancée, Nadezhda, has vanished while interviewing railway workers as part of her job at the Bureau of Statistics. Horrified, Samson launches a desperate inquiry, and soon discovers that two other women have gone missing under similar circumstances. To find them, he joins forces with the harsh, violent Nikanor Abyazov, a Chekist officer who relishes his government-given authority. Kurkov captures the atmosphere of 1920s Kyiv with terse, poetic prose, and punctuates his crackerjack plot with gorgeous, Proustian reflections on Samson's childhood and deceased family members. Distinguished by its humor, heart, and subtle political urgency, this series deserves a long life.
