The White Russian
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The White Russian
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Amazon.com Review
With Russia on the brink of a populist revolution, the least important thing to most residents of St. Petersburg in January 1917 might have been who stabbed to death an unidentified couple on the frozen Neva River. Yet solving that mystery is pretty much all that keeps Alexander "Sandro" Ruzsky, chief investigator of the city police, from despairing over his medley of personal torments, in Tom Bradby's doleful yet evocative novel, The White Russian.
It turns out that the dead woman on the ice used to work as a nanny to Tsar Nicholas II's children, until she was dismissed for stealing unspecified property. Her male companion, a Chicago criminal and labor agitator, was knifed 17 times and had in his coat pocket a roll of banknotes marked with tiny ink dots. A code of some sort? If so, who was he communicating with secretly, and to what end? Although Ruzsky, the black sheep son of an aristocratic family, just returned from a three-year Siberian banishment, finds his investigation hampered by the tsar's secret police, he slowly unpeels the layers of a conspiracy that involves not merely homicide, but also avarice, politics, and long-sought vengeance. The stability of Russia's monarchy may depend on Ruzsky's success in this case, as may the investigator's hesitant relationship with a star ballerina, whose cloaked past makes her a far more intriguing, and more deadly, companion than Ruzsky realizes.
While The White Russian introduces readers to St. Petersburg's exotic and economic extremes--tenements of Dostoevskian squalidness, gilded ballet theaters full of garrulous royalty--it is a rather less ambitiously atmospheric story than Bradby's previous novel, 2002's . Yet it boasts a similarly tumbling pace, emotionally torn and credible characters (including a "neurotic and hysterical" Tsarina Alexandra), and twists and dubious allegiances enough to leave readers wondering at Ruzsky's solution until the closing pages. At once a chilling crime yarn and a cautionary tale about the sometimes painful exigencies of love, The White Russian is a literary cocktail with a decided kick. --J. Kingston Pierce
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In January 1917, a murder on the iced-over Neva may lead straight to the royal family. Bradby does for Russia what he did for 1920s China in The Master of Rain.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
toddc55 (Garden Grove, CA) | 
10/07/2004
10/07/2004
I read a lot of historical fiction. The two things that draw my attention & garner my enthusiasm are (1) authentic historical setting & details, and (2) a plot & characters more interesting than a mere "history book". In his first novel "The Master of Rain" set in 1920s Shanghai, Tom Bradup to this impressive debut, "The White Russian" does not disappoint.
Set in St. Petersburg during the first stirrings of the Bolshevik revolution, this book rings with impressive authenticity. The detachment of the Tsar's regime, the role of the secret police, the aristocratic class & their sense of entitlement, the desperation of budding revolutionaries, all of these ring true. A great setting for a murder mystery, as the story's hero, a discredited police inspector, finds two bodies on the frozen river outside the Tsar's winter palace. As the book begins, Inspector Ruzsky has no idea the complex & twisted path his investigation will take before the killer or killers are finally revealed.
This author is a major new talent in historical fiction, & has twice now mastered all the elements of an engrossing story that transports us to another time & place. Where to next, Mr. Bradby?
Alexander Gitlits (Moscow, Russia) |
20/06/2004
20/06/2004
I wasn't sure about "White Russian" when I started reading it. Historical mysteries are not the easiest books to write and, from my point of view, a novel in this genre can turn only two ways - a great one or a bad one. Also, as I am Russian, a foreigner writing about my countrys' past... well, let's just say, that some books about Russia, I've read were laughable in there depiction of the country.
Luckily, all my suspisions were proven wrong.
The book starts with two bodies found on the ice of Neva river on the first day of 1917. St. Petersburg is a frozen city on a brink of revolution. The government is in dissaray, as people think not of how to prevent a revolution, but how to save themselves when it comes. In comes Alexander "Sandro" Ruszki - the Chief Investigator. He is one of those officers, who will hunt down the truth whatever it takes. And pretty soon the trail takes him to rather high places...
But the book is not just a mystery - it's a story about people, who got caught in extraordinary moment in history - about love, honor, trust and hard choices you sometimes has to do to survive.
The recreation of the place and period is near perfect. There are some minor issues, but I don't think that any reader outside of Russia will notice them.
This is a very strong book, weaving a story around the real facts and persons. If you are interested in Russia, it can give you a good insight into its past and the Russian people.
Candace thepageturner (Los Angeles, CA USA) |
09/05/2003
09/05/2003
Some early reviewers of The White Russian complained that it was not as "atmospheric" as Tom Bradaround better book in that it is plotted with more depth and believability than the earlier novel, and the atmospheric elements are better integrated with plot and characterization. Master of Rain was enjoyable, but The White Russian is better than that.
Brada man who turns out to be an American revolutionary and a young woman who was a nanny to the Tsar's son. The search for the killer will take Ruzsky to the Tsarina's sitting room, tenements of reeking squalor, his family home, and backstage at the Imperial ballet.
The plot is tight and intricate without being ridiculously convoluted. The characters have meat and gristle. Within a very short time they will be plunged into terror and anarchy. It would be interesting to check in on Ruzsky on New Year's 1918 to see whether he or any of the other characters in The White Russian are still alive.
Although Tom Bradby does not write with the existential ache of Martin Cruz Smith, he is able to touch the underlying disquiet of a time and place. This is a very evocative and satifying thriller.
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