The Case of the General's Thumb
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
'Kurkov is a fine satirist and a real, blackly comic, find' Observer
Discover the international thriller, shot through with black satire and authentic detail, by one of Ukraine's most highly acclaimed authors.
When the corpse of a distinguished general and presidential adviser is found, attached to an advertising balloon, lieutenant Viktor Slutsky is sent in to investigate. Meanwhile, KGB officer Nik Tsensky arrives in Kyiv for a secret mission.
A larger-than-life hitman, bombs under furniture, a hearse, a deaf-and-dumb blonde, a tortoise and a parrot all play a part as Kurkov evokes a world of secret militia not seen before in Western fiction.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in Kiev in 1997, this offbeat crime novel from Ukrainian author Kurkov (Death and the Penguin) blends slapstick humor and political assassination. When the body of retired general Vadim Bronitsky, missing a thumb, rises over the city dangling from a Coca Cola advertising balloon early one morning, the local police, in the person of Lt. Viktor Slutsky, and Ukrainian security, represented by Nik Tsensky, both investigate. Slutsky wonders why his superiors decided to put him on this sensitive case. Tsensky, who's just moved to Kiev from Tajikistan, is struggling to make ends meet. That Tsensky's department is slated for a reorganization that would divide its duties and create an analogue to the FBI complicates his task. Farcical developments overshadow the mystery solving, and things don't all quite come together in the end.
