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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Pair of Jacks for Erast Fandorin, February 16, 2008
This review is from: Special Assignments: The Further Adventures of Erast Fandorin (Erast Fandorin Mysteries) (Paperback)
Boris Akunin's Erast Fandorin mysteries track the adventures of a Russian detective in the latter quarter of the 19th-century. They are well written, fast-paced and enjoyable. Each one contains the same basic ingredients: the brilliant but emotionally scarred detective Erast Fandorin; charming yet dangerous women; a murder or mystery which has or could have a political impact on mother Russia; and a villain who tests Fandorin's physical and mental skills. Yet, Akunin manages to mix and match the ingredients enough to make each new story seem fresh. The fifth in the series to be published in English, "Special Assignments", is as fresh as the first and was great fun to read. "Special Assignments" consists off two separate novel-length stories. "The Jack of Spades", is light and almost whimsical. It pits Fandorin against a skilled con-artist who takes great delight in scamming Moscow's rich and powerful ruling elite. Fandorin must try to match wits and best the Jack of Spades even as he comes to admire the con-man's ability to separate a ruler from his rubles. "The Decorator" pits Fandorin against a brutal serial killer who, like London's Jack-the Ripper, has started on a campaign of torturing and killing Moscow's street walkers. This story is not for the squeamish. Nevertheless, it takes a few stunning turns and the climax was both surprising and powerful. "Special Assignments" will not disappoint fans of the Erast Fandorin mysteries. It should also be enjoyed by people who are new to Akunin's work. It stands up well on its own and can be enjoyed by people who have not read the earlier book. Having said that, I think the reading experience would be enhanced by reading Akunin's earlier books in the series. They include The Winter Queen: A Novel (Erast Fandorin Mysteries), Murder on the Leviathan: A Novel, and The Turkish Gambit: A Novel (Erast Fandorin Mysteries). First, they are each excellent in their own right. Second, they provide the reader with background information on Fandorin that does make some of his actions here a bit easier to grasp. Each volume is good by itself but the sum is far greater than its individual parts. L. Fleisig
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Book in Series, January 15, 2008
"Special Assignments" consists of two novellas featuring the dashing detective Erast Fandorina and his homely assistant Anissi Tulipov. The first novella is set in 1886. Through sheer brilliance, Erast Fandorin has risen to the post of Deputy for Special Assignments. The novel begins with the Governor General of Moscow calling upon Fandorin to find and arrest an audacious con man calling himself The Jack of Spades. In this light hearted story, Fandorin meets a criminal equal to him in imagination and daring. The fun of this novella is to see two such brilliant characters matching wits and doing battle in Victorian era Russia.
The tone of the second novella switches from the light hearted to the dark and macabre. It is Holy Week 1889 and a serial killer is eviscerating Moscow's prostitues. These brutal killings are deeply disturbing and it soon becomes apparent that there will be a great political price to pay if the killer is not found quickly and stopped. Examining the first mutilated corpse, Fandorin immediately knows that Jack the Ripper has relocated to Moscow and has recommenced his hunt. In the next few days a thrilling chase will begin in which Fandorin's mental stanima will be driven to its limits.
This is the fifth novel in the Erast Fandorin series. Interestingly, the first four novels when published in Russia each sold only about six thousand copies. "Special Assignments" was his breakout book and soon became a best seller. The series has gone on to sell more than eighteen million books in Russia.
I have read the four previous books in the series and I think this is the best book so far in the series. It seems as though in each book, Boris Akunin is exploring a separate subgenre of the police thriller genre. In these two novellas the subgenre is the psychological thriller. Akunin is a very skillful writer and in these two novellas he has really hit his stride. As of this review, there are six more books in the series that have yet to be published in the United States. I look forward to reading more of Erast Fandorin's further adventues. Highly recommended.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Jack of Spades and Jack (Ivan) the Ripper, August 27, 2008
This review is from: Special Assignments: The Further Adventures of Erast Fandorin (Erast Fandorin Mysteries) (Paperback)
Knowing that I love a good mystery and enjoy all things Russian, a friend gave me Special Assignments: The Further Adventures of Erast Fandorin by Boris Akunin for my birthday. This book is one of the most original and creative mysteries that I have read.
Special Assignments takes place in Moscow during the late 1800s. Erast Petrovich Fandorin is the deputy for special assignments to the governor-general of Moscow. In creating Fandorin, Akunin gives us a cross between Sherlock Holmes and James Bond (without the high-tech gadgets). Fandorin is handsome, intelligent, and debonair, speaks several languages, engages in martial arts and is a master of disguise. Special Assignments also has a host of quirky and interesting secondary characters including Fandorin's assistant, Anisii Tulipov, and his Japanese servant, Masa.
This book is actually two separate stories--The Jack of Spades and The Decorator. In the Jack of Spades, a shrewd con-man is swindling many Moscow residents out of enormous sums of money. The thief received this name because he leaves a Jack of Spades playing card at the scene of every crime. Even Fandorin becomes one of his victims. How the deputy catches the Jack of Spades is simply ingenious and delightful. The second story, The Decorator, is just as good but less amusing and much darker. A Jack the Ripper-type character is working the streets of Moscow, brutally murdering and butchering unfortunate victims (mostly prostitutes). There is some question that this might actually be the work of the English Jack the Ripper. Fandorin has some suspects, but needs to go underground in his efforts to catch the serial killer. As Fandorin gets closer to discovering the killer's identity, the "decorator" changes his usual pattern and starts killing those involved with the investigation. The ending came as a complete shock.
There are many things about this book (and series) that appeal to me. First, creating a mystery series that takes place in 19th Century tsarist-Russia is definitely a first. Deputy Erast Fandorin is one of the most delightful and unusual protagonists of any modern series. And finally, I am amazed that this series is written by Moscow writer Boris Akunin (the pen name of Grigory Chkhartishvili) and superbly translated by Andrew Broomfield.
When I "discover" a writer who really impresses me, I tend to read everything they have written. I will definitely be reading more of Akunin and Fandorin.
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