In het Moskou van 1936 moet een kapitein van de Militia een reeks gruwelijke moorden onderzoeken; hij ontdekt gaandeweg dat het spoor wel eens kon leiden naar de gevreesde geheime dienst.
Kapitein Alexei Dimitrievich Korolev Reeks
Stap in de schoenen van Kapitein Alexei Dimitrijevich Korolev, een wetsdienaar die zich staande houdt in het verraderlijke Moskou van de jaren dertig. In een tijdperk van politieke machinaties en de ijzeren vuist van Stalins regime, pakt Korolev complexe zaken aan binnen de Criminele Onderzoeksdivisie. Deze serie biedt een meeslepend beeld van rechtvaardigheid en overleving in een samenleving waar persoonlijke integriteit voortdurend wordt getest tegenover overweldigende staatsmacht.
Aanbevolen leesvolgorde
The second novel in William Ryan's lauded, multi-award nominated Captain Korolev series, set in 1930's Stalinist Russia - now with a stunning new cover look
Shortlisted for the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger for Best Historical Crime Novel of the Year Shortlisted for the Ireland AM Crime Fiction Book of the Year Moscow, 1937. Captain Korolev, a police investigator, is enjoying a long-overdue visit from his young son Yuri when an eminent scientist is shot dead within sight of the Kremlin and Korolev is ordered to find the killer.It soon emerges that the victim, a man who it appears would stop at nothing to fulfil his ambitions, was engaged in research of great interest to those at the very top ranks of Soviet power. When another scientist is brutally murdered, and evidence of the professors' dark experiments is hastily removed, Korolev begins to realise that, along with having a difficult case to solve, he's caught in a dangerous battle between two warring factions of the NKVD. And then his son Yuri goes missing . . .A desperate race against time, set against a city gripped by Stalin's Great Terror and teeming with spies, street children and Thieves, The Twelfth Department confirms William Ryan as one of the most compelling historical crime novelists at work today.
Captain Alexei Korolev has nothing to complain about. He has his own room in an apartment, a job in the police force that puts food on the table, and his good health. In Moscow in 1937, that’s a lot more than most people have to be grateful for. But for the first time in a long time, Korolev is about to be truly happy: his son Yuri is coming to visit for an entire week. Shortly after Yuri’s arrival, however, Korolev receives an urgent call from his boss—it seems an important man has been murdered, and Korolev is the only detective they’re willing to assign to this sensitive case. In fact, Korolev realizes almost immediately that the layers of sensitivity and secrecy surrounding this case far exceed his paygrade. And the consequences of interfering with a case tied to State Security or the NKVD can be severe—you might lose your job, if you’re lucky. Your whole family might die if you’re not. Korolev is suddenly faced with much more than just discovering a murderer’s identity; he must decide how far he’ll go to see justice served . . . and what he’s willing to do to protect his family. In The Twelfth Department, William Ryan's portrait of a policeman struggling to survive in one of the most volatile and dangerous eras of modern history is mesmerizing.