Serial killer tales come and go but this one proves starkly different: a Russian novel with layers upon layers of darkness set in a contemporary Moscow where women are being stalked and brutalised by a figure of fear and dread, and a young investigating female journalist is caught up in the bloody (and strongly explicit) spree. Complex, sinister, drawing uncomfortable psychological insights into some women's morbid fascination with the seduction of killers (a disturbing phenomenon I have witnessed at first hand in the true crime section of my erstwhile bookshop...), this is an inside report on the dark heart of Russia and the female psyche. Rewarding if rather chilling.
Moscow is plagued with a series of gruesome murders. Xenia, an ambitious young editor in the news department of an online journal decides to track down the serial killer, devising an elaborate website to entrap him. She soon realises, however, that her obsession with the psychopath reflects something disturbing: her own unconscious fascination with the sexual savagery of the murders.
'The book is sure to gain momentum globally and evolve from a cult phenomenon to a classic piece of literature.'
- Examiner.com
'The fainthearted had best stay away.'
- Publishers Weekly
Author
About Sergey Kuznetsov, Andrew Bromfield
Sergey Kuznetsov is a Russian writer and journalist. He writes for The New York Times, Harper's Bazaar & Vogue. Andrew Bromfield is a British editor and a distinguished Russian translator.
