Dog Park
A novel
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER • Set in Ukraine and Finland, a captivating story of intrigue, betrayal, and murder in the global fertility market--from acclaimed writer Sofi Oksanen, "an international publishing sensation frequently likened to Stieg Larsson" (The Guardian).
Helsinki, 2016. Olenka sits on a bench, watching a family play in a dog park. A stranger sits down beside her. Olenka startles; she would recognize this other woman anywhere. After all, Olenka was the one who ruined her life. And this woman may be about to do the same to Olenka. Yet, for a fragile moment, here they are, together—looking at their own children being raised by other people.
Moving seamlessly between modern-day Finland and Ukraine in the early days of its post-Soviet independence, Dog Park is a keenly observed, dark, and propulsive novel set at the intersection of East and West, centered on a web of exploitation and the commodification of the female body.
Sofi Oksanen brings fearless psychological acuity to this captivating story about a woman unable to escape the memory of her lost child, the ruthless powers that still hunt her, and the lies that could well end up saving her.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This bleak psychological thriller from Finnish writer Oksanen (Norma) opens in 2016 at a Helsinki dog park, where Olenka is surveilling a couple and their two kids. One of the children is biologically hers—the result of a sale to the Ukrainian egg donation agency that later became her employer—and now that her life is in ruins, Olenka likes to contemplate what could have been. When former acquaintance Daria Sokolova sits down beside her, Olenka assumes she's there to blackmail her, as Olenka fled Ukraine in 2010 after being implicated in a high-powered client's murder. But Daria—a former egg donor, herself—is the mother of the dog park couple's other child, and it's not long before Olenka realizes that Daria has other plans. Scenes detailing Olenka's efforts to outmaneuver Daria alternate with flashbacks to the lies and manipulations that brought them to the park, ramping up tension. The Soviet Union's collapse looms large over Oksanen's intricate plot, which rivets despite leaden pacing. Fans of slow-burning suspense will find much to enjoy.
