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I would like to rate it 4.5 but alas I don't have that option.

Let me begin by saying that this book has exceeded my expectations. Personally, I would say that it is a tad better than Gorky Park - an excellent book about a Soviet policeman.

The atmosphere of fear, desperation, tension, suspense has been used so effectively by the author. The start itself is so chilling - it is 1933 and we visit the village of Chervoy, Ukraine - then a part of the Soviet Union. Lack of food has reduced humans to eating their pets and further degradation is portrayed when people try to eat earth. In such a setting, two little boys- two brothers set out to hunt a cat while their mother waits for them at home. Then of course, something terrible happens.

Twenty years later we move to Moscow where a child's horrific murder is being brushed under the carpet by the Stalinist regime. Crime does not exist in the Soviet Union. The man tasked with bringing the grieving family in line with the state's theory of accident is Leo Demidiv of the MGB, the State Security Force. Like Arkady Renko of Gorky Park and Xavier March of Fatherland, Leo is a decent human being. But, there is a big difference between Leo and the others � unlike Renko and March, Leo is a true believer in the state. He is dedicated to his country and the cause espoused by the state. Leo will kill and die for it.

The horrors of living under a totalitarian regime has been emphatically stressed throughout the book. A mere slip of tongue, a silly joke, a mere suspicion is enough for a person to be executed or may be worse � be exiled to the Gulag. The person needs to prove his loyalty to the state, the state does not need to prove the accused person’s guilt. Torture and forced confessions are the accepted norms of interrogation. “Barbarity passes off as necessity for the greater good.�
The policy of the state � “Better to let ten innocent men suffer than one spy escape.�

Leo, in his heart, was never that comfortable with the terrors inflicted on the so called “enemies of the state.�

Leo, becomes a victim of the state too. All his beliefs, values, accomplishments go for a toss. He is demoted and sent off in the middle of nowhere. Here starts Leo’s investigations into the horrific murders of children.

Though this is a serial killer novel, the state emerges as the bigger villain than the killer. Leo risks his life as well as the lives of his loved ones in order to expose the killer. The risk is not from the killer but from the state itself as crime does not exist in Soviet Russia and people trying to prove so are Western agents- enemies of the glorious revolution. Leo and his wife Raisa try to catch and punish the killer and are helped by a lot of kind-hearted people, some prisoners themselves while others are complete strangers � humble citizens of the USSR.

There are plenty of events and twists which would make you tense, afraid, excited etc.

Do we really know and understand the people whom we love? People try to forget things which make them uncomfortable. I loved the way the relationship between Leo and Raisa evolved.

The book, parts of the book at least were so faced paced that I did not realize how time went by.
Saying I am looking forward to the next books in the series is an understatement � I simply can’t wait to get my hands on them.

I would recommend this book to all lovers of thrillers � but please keep in mind the book can be a bit depressing. There are descriptions of acute starvation and the inhuman behaviors that result from it, horrific brutality inflicted on children � if you don’t mind all these then this book won’t disappoint.