Siberian Light (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "IT'S THE NIGHT OF April twenty-eighth and the temperature hovers near the freezing mark..." (more)
Key Phrases: tiger gal, moon buggy, bang stick, Land Cruiser, Prosecutor Gromov, Andrei Ryzkhov (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Described by the publicist as a cross between Smilla's Sense of Snow and Gorky Park, this first novel will receive a hefty promotional push. At its heart is a triple murder in the Siberian town of Markovo that throws together Markovo's mayor and the Russian American scientist Anna Vereskaya.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

After four high-tech thrillers (The Last High Ground, 1995, etc.), White does a star turn with a detective story set in post-communist Siberia. Three years ago, Gregori Nowek--a geologist whose criticisms of Soviet oil-drilling got him banished to frozen Irkutsk--was elected mayor of his new town with the slogan ``Can I Do Any Worse?'' Still mourning wife Nina, who died in a plane crash, he has failed to make peace with his teenage daughter, Galena, or with the gleefully corrupt world of the new Russia. One spring day, Nowek's asked by his Moscow superior, Arkady Volsky, to investigate the murder of Andrei Ryzkhov, a wealthy local liaison with AmerRus, the American-Russian cooperative drilling for ``Siberian light'' crude oil in the Tunguska fields. Not only was Ryzkhov's throat cut, but two of the city's police militamen were similarly slaughtered. Nowek's inquiries are discouraged by ex-KGB Major Kaznin and by the coolly cruel Irkjutsk prosecutor, Gromov, who worries that a scandal would disturb the flow of bribes coming from AmerRus. Nowek perseveres, his geologist's eye uncovering clues that Major Kaznin ``missed.'' These lead him to Tunguska, site of the AmerRus drilling base, where, unknown to him, his daughter has been abducted by a lecherously lethal American AmerRus worker, Paul Decker. Tunguska is also home to an endangered species of Siberian tigers under the watchful eye of Dr. Anna Vereskaya, now a murder suspect. Nowek falls in love, but, predictably, his struggle to prove Anna innocent, rescue his daughter from her loathesome paramour, and deal with AmerRus's secret reason for exploiting Siberia--all bring forth resources of character that Nowek wasn't aware he had. The climax is labored, though it supports White's thesis that no change of economy will stop bad guys from being very bad. Almost, but not quite, a rewrite of Gorky Park, enlived throughout by hilarious looks at the old regime, at mud-splattered Siberia, and at the irrepressible vileness of human greed. ($150,000 ad/promo) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Island Books (November 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440224608
• ISBN-13: 978-0440224600
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #446,105 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Noir, AmerRus Style, June 8, 2000

By	Wilson F. Engel, III (San Diego, California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Siberian Light (Hardcover)

"Siberian Light" is the sometimes eloquent, often savage and utterly riveting discovery of an unspeakable American secret in the heart of contemporary Siberian oil country. Brilliantly structured and fast-paced right to the finish, the book draws on Robin White's considerable personal experience of the Siberian landscape, Russian politics and the oil industry. Yet in the end, it is the chilling plausibility of using Siberia as a camp for unregenerate American criminals that turns the story inside out and raises troubling questions. Compared with the Gulag Archipelago, what might this possibility mean? Our access into the labyrinthine complexities of post-Soviet law enforcement (the most convincing portrayal since Martin Cruz Smith1s depiction of Soviet-era enforcement in Gorky Park) is through Gregori Nowek, whose dogged persistence in spite of layers of corruption and deception is as admirable as his laconic (very Russian) sense of humor and his genuine humanity.Our access into the AmerRus oil conglomerate, including the Elgen prison complex is abetted both by Nowek1s daughter rebellious sixteen-year-old daughter Galena (who is lured to Tunguska to become a sex prisoner) and by the fascinating Dr. Anna Vereskaya, the wildlife expert (whose courage and wit convey the dark secret via satellite to friends in the American research community just in time).With our access we see institutional corruption in AmerRus that makes ordinary Russian corruption look tame. The soulless ruthlessness with which the immune conglomerate goes about protecting its evidently profitable prison business seems as much a warning about what now exists as about what might be. If you can stomach this book to its end, it will try your soul. The Siberian tigers seem admirable in comparison with the humans involved in the crime. One particular prisoner suffers so much and works so much good by a simple gesture just before his death that the institutional mentality that consigned him to this place seems more criminal than he.The premise that Americans would offshore to Siberia its most hardened criminals is fraught with irony, given the Soviet-era use of the region to intern its criminal population. True enough, the prison population in the United States is reaching such proportions with such costs that many out-of-the-box solutions have been proposed. Asked about ideas I could suggest to alleviate the problem, I simply recommended one solution NOT to contemplate, and I gave the righteous "law and order advocate" inquirer a copy of Siberian Light.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Zhivago meets Gorky Park, February 27, 2002

By	"beasleyk" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Siberian Light (Hardcover)

Have you ever studied, visited or wondered about Russia, the Soviet Union, or what has risen from their ashes? If so, Siberian Light is for you. Robin White blends the other-worldly conditions of daily life in Siberia with murder, greed, loyalty and a hero who is searching for meaning in his life.

Nowek, the hero, finds himself wanting to be heroic, yet doesn't know if the system has beaten the heroism out of him. A surprising blend of unlikely accomplices and intriguing sub-plots give the book great pace. This murder mystery respects its reader's intelligence, letting out enough rope to piece some things together while painting a painfully honest picture of the harshness of life on the other side of the world. By setting the story in Siberia, which quickly proves to be a land that tests one's limits, White's characters are believable in their wide range of good and evil, since the place itself can and does bring out the best and worst in every one of them.

Regardless of this review's trite "Hollywood pitch" title, Siberian Light is a book worth reading for its well-developed characters, poetic moments, ironic truisms and amazing attention to detail (from the upside-down nature of things in Siberia to a deft use of Russian sayings and their meanings without being heavy-handed). Robin White lets us flex imaginative muscles through fabulous descriptions and accurate assessments of the attitude and character of post-Soviet society. Even though the book is a murder mystery, the more intriguing mystery turns out to be how the characters will fare in the end. Will justice prevail? Will the "good guy" win? And how do you tell the good guys from the bad guys in Siberia?!

Buy the hard cover; this one deserves a permanent place on the shelf.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars terrific post-Soviet thriller, October 13, 2000

By	Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Siberian Light (Hardcover)

To a reader's delight, and what must be the great pain of the Russian populace, Russia has gone from being an ideal setting for thrillers because of a totalitarian system that made just about everything illegal, to an ideal setting for thrillers because of it's complete lawlessness. Siberian Light finds Gregori Nowek, a geologist & mayor of an oil boomtown in Irkutsk, Siberia (his slogan was "Can I Do any Worse?"), investigating the murders of Andrei Ryzkhov, an intermediary for the AmerRus oil company which is drilling for Siberian light crude oil, and of two of his own militiamen, who went to investigate why Ryskhov's dog was barking.

Nowek's superior, Arkady Volsky, wants him to conduct the investigation, but State Prosecutor Gromov has other ideas & turns loose ex-KGB Major Kaznin. The investigation leads Nowek, & his loyal-but-cynical driver Chuchin, to Tunguska & the AmerRus base, but along the way he has run-ins with the local mafia, falls in love with Dr. Anna Vereskaya, a tiger biologist with an uncanny resemblance to Nowek's wife who died three years earlier in an Aeroflot crash. Just to further complicate life, his 16 year old daughter Galena runs away.

There's a lot going on here, but White manages to keep all of the plates spinning and his portrait of life in post-Soviet Russia is fascinating.

GRADE: B+