Monstrum [Hardcover]

Donald James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 1997

The new Russia, 2015: Nationalist forces have finally defeated the Anarchist rebels, but it is an uneasy peace. Provincial police inspector Constantin Vadim is plucked from backwater Murmansk to head up a murder investigation in the decaying, crime-ridden Red Presnya district of Moscow. His task: to solve a succession of unspeakable crimes committed by a serial killer who has become a terrifying local legend, almost a cult symbol: Monstrum.

In the suspenseful tradition of Gorky Park and Fatherland, Donald James's Monstrum is a political thriller that also features a hunt for a brutal murderer. And, in Inspector Vadim, James has created a cynical but all-too-human hero, who navigates across a Russian terrain at once familiar and frighteningly new.

Vadim unwittingly discovers governmental intrigue and conspiratorial deceptions so terrible they threaten to undermine the revamped Russia. And when his past--in the form of his estranged wife, Julia Petrovna, a general in the defeated Anarchist army--collides with his ongoing current hunt for the killer, these two forces threaten to crush the detective and Russia itself.

Replete with vivid characters and an audacious, unforgettable plot, Monstrum is the sort of thriller that redefines the genre.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ace historian Donald James, who wrote the script for the excellent PBS series Russia's War and whose book The Fall of the Russian Empire is a fine guide to recent past events, projects his expertise into the near future to create a chaotic, completely believable landscape of terror and frustration in this memorable thriller. It's 2015, and Russia--racked by civil wars since the fall of the Yeltsin government and its short-lived liberal successors--is under the strong grip of leader Leonid Koba. A melancholy, alcoholic (are there any other kind?), provincial policeman named Vadim is shipped from Murmansk to a bombed-out district of Moscow, ostensibly to investigate the brutal murders of women credited to a demonlike killer called the Monstrum. But what the people in power really want from the increasingly desperate Vadim is something completely different--his resemblance to Koba and his connection to the woman who led the defeated rebels.

From Library Journal

In the year 2015, Moscow has just ended a civil war and is entering into a new, chaotic political world. Police inspector Constantin Vadim is drawn into a ruthless battle between serving the "Cheka" (the Nationalist Secret Police) and remaining loyal to his ex-wife, leader of the Women's Division of the Third Anarchist Army and currently hiding from the Cheka. Constantin becomes a pawn between the two when he is transferred to Moscow to lead an investigation into several brutal murders done by the mysterious serial killer known only as the Monstrum. Simultaneously, he is also on call as a secret double for the new Russian vice president, Leonid Koba, whom he uncannily resembles. James (The House of Janus, LJ 9/15/90) does a superb job of merging Constantin's two worlds, putting the police inspector at risk both physically and emotionally. Readers will be breathless with anticipation following the hero through the war-torn streets of Moscow, hunting a killer, and learning the truth about the emerging democracy. The incredible climax will have them shouting, "Oh no!" James is an eloquent suspense writer, and his novel is highly recommended.?Stacey Reasor, ITT Technical Inst. Lib., Tampa, Fla.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 436 pages
• Publisher: Villard (July 22, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679457704
• ISBN-13: 978-0679457701
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,345,718 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A modern Russian fairy tale, January 10, 2000

By 

Alexander Suraev - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monstrum (Mass Market Paperback)

Being a Russian living in Moscow I have a certain advantage over the readers who were not brought up in Russia and have no knowledge of the Russian literary tradition.

You can believe me - this book is superb if you see it in a way that makes the enjoyment unhindered. Please do not compare it to Gorky Park and the schlock of this kind. Also it's unwise to test the novel's characters and events against the patterns of the real life. Just see it as a modern Russian fairy tale.

I am sure the author is familiar with the Russian fantastic tradition of Bulgakov, Odoevsky, etc.- the authors inspired by E.T.A.Hoffman.

If you'll read these tales you will see that usually they start with quite veritable everyday happenings and the characters occupation and rank is stated. But a few pages later the fabric of reality is torn and the world of supernatural is shining through the gaps.

The mood of the novel is dark - it's definitely Russian. Cowards turn into heroes and the heroes are traitors, former classmates are united by vodka but one of them is the chief of the secret police and another - the prime suspect.

I was amused that one of the reviewers could not buy the fact that the rebellious general's husband was recruited as the dictators body double. What would you say about Stalin's comrade Molotov, who had his wife rotting in a death camp and still stood at the Mausoleum near his boss, flinching at his jovial inquiries about the woman's health?

So see this novel as a perfect opportunity to experience the life very different from your own and even if you do not care for the Russian literary tradition the novel's beautiful(and mostly evil) heroines, courageous underdogs and exotic settings will make a couple of your evening very enjoyable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Brilliant, September 6, 1999

By 

Vesselin Milkov jnr "visit me at www.vescomil... (Johannesburg, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monstrum (Mass Market Paperback)

Don't fool yourself it is a difficult book to read and I strongly recommend a sound knowledge of Russian history and Russian habits. Otherwise superb read,deep and breathtaking,original,and a well executed novel. Bravo Donald.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars When historians write novels..., June 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Monstrum (Mass Market Paperback)

Monstrum has a sensational premise: gory serial killer terrorizes post-civil war Moscow; inexperienced provincial investigator must confront sinister political forces to apprehend the criminal. Unfortunately, Mr. James confuses the issue by adding two addition plot lines that do little service to the story. The first, a backstory about the investigator's wife, a general with the losing side of the civil war, has little relevance to the story and uses up a great deal of ink; the second, involving a scheme to alter the investigator's appearance through plastic surgery and then use him as a public double for the president, is, to say the least, far-fetched. Without knowing a great deal about secret police strategy, I think its a safe bet to say that the spouse of an avowed enemy of the state would be an unlikely choice for such a role. Regardless, the space required to detail these two extraneous elements means that the book has an underwritten feel. The characters are thinly drawn, in particular the one who should have been the most fascinating - the killer. There was an odd moment when after reading most of the novel, I realized that the author was going to have to tie up an awful lot in the last few pages. Unsurprisingly, the ending was rushed and frankly, pretty stupid. It's a shame, because Mr. James grasp of the Russian culture and its vernacular is tremendous, and had he gone a little lighter on concept and heavier on detail this could have been a tremendous novel. As it is, it's a fun read but not much more.