Andrei Konstantinov

When I see a book in Russian at my favorite Half Price Bookstore, I grab it. I don't think twice.That's what happened here - and I didn't notice that this particular book was only the 2nd volume of the detective novel. The first wasn't there - even if I looked. Such books appear suddenly - by some Russian immigrant selling them off to the store, and in this case whosoever did it - decided to hold on to the first volume.

And though I would have preferred to have the first part for certain details, not having it didn't hinder my reading too much: I could figure out the relationship among the characters. It was just chronological - the second volume describing the two militia operatives, two friends (Tulsky and Tokarev) solving crime in 1990, Leningrad (the first volume must have been - their work earlier). The case they were solving here was a new one.

On the firs page of the book it says "A Men's Detective Novel" or "A Detective Novel for Men" - depending on how you translate it. That raised my brows somewhat. OK, I thought, let's see. In what way is it "men's".... I was curious. So I started it... True. Very rough male humor. Lots of bravado, crude language, improbable slang talk between the operatives and some criminals that ended up helping militia in the chase for the vicious killer. So - not for a sensitive lady at all. But I persevered, because the plot was solid, and the writer's passion was intense, and the hunt for the monstrous and devilish killer was so real.… (altro)