February 27, 2006
Set in 1882, Russian author Akunin's fourth novel to feature Erast Petrovich Fandorin (after 2005's The Turkish Gambit
) consists of two parts that read like different books. In part one, the 26-year-old special agent comes to Moscow to investigate the sudden demise of national hero Gen. Mikhail Sobolev, who dies in the bed of an alluring courtesan. Fandorin learns of Sobolev's plan for a coup and of a missing suitcase full of a million rubles to fund it. The trail of the missing suitcase leads to the dangerous Khitrovka slums and then to Pyotr Khurtinsky, the scheming head of the secret section of the governor-general's chancellery. One step ahead of Fandorin is the mysterious Klonov, an assassin who may have once tried to kill our hero. As Fandorin closes in on Klonov, the narrative jumps to a retelling of the assassin's life. This shift brings a welcome change of storytelling, from the often stiff, theatrical language of the first section to a more natural, unembellished style. An exciting resolution only partly offsets this incongruity.

March 1, 2006
With his steel-trap mind and modest demeanor, Erast Fandorin has just arrived in 1880s Moscow after extended service in Japan, a samurai servant in tow. Prince Dolgorukoi's new deputy for special assignments, Fandorin steps immediately into a hornet's nest: war hero General Sobolev is dead, and Fandorin recognizes immediately that things aren't as they seem. Soon he's tracking down lovely German-born chanteuse Wanda (was Sobolev's murder a German plot?), retrieving secrets from Sobolev's mistress (why did Sobolev have a briefcase full of a million rubles, and where is it now?), and finally uncovering treachery at the very heart of the Russian government. Just as Fandorin is about to confront the murderer, the text deftly switches tohis point of view, telling a very bloody life story leading to his showdown with Fandorin. As with Fandorin's other escapades (most recently, The Turkish Gambit ), the plot is complex but carefully laid out, the action historically significant, and our hero as elusive as ever; now that his adventures are being presented in trade paperback format, more U.S. readers can become acquainted with this singular Russian sleuth. A definite purchase wherever international mysteries/thrillers are popular.BarbaraHoffert, Library Journal

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

"[Akunin's] novels feature a Slavic Sherlock Holmes who speaks Japanese and English, is skilled at martial arts and has ladykiller good looks. . . . Millions of readers have been seduced."