You speak Russian?*

Stuart M. Kaminsky. I've seen his books on the shelf at the library dozens of times, and have never once - not once! - been tempted to pick them up.

But last week I visited my aunt and uncle, and I happened to bring along Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. It was creepy and depressing and extremely readable, plus I was intrigued by the fact that the author graduated from college the same year I did (what have I been doing with my life????)

Anyway, after finishing Child 44, Aunt Jean suggested that I read Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express by Kaminsky. It is one of the later books in the series, and although it took me about three chapters to realize that Rostnikov and Porfiry Petrovich were actually the same person (I've never said that I'm particularly bright), I was fascinated. The book is split into two story arcs: the main one starts in the 1890s on the Trans-Siberian railroad, built by Czar Alexander III and spanning more than 5,000 miles. During construction, a rail crew member stole and hid an undisclosed important something which is of great importance to a number of unsavory individuals. The group includes Rostnikov's boss, who orders him to take the Trans-Siberian Express and retrieve the missing item.

The second storyline follows Iosef Rostnikov and his fiancee as they hunt a schizophrenic young women with serious father issues and a penchant for killing unsuspecting men in metro terminals.

The mystery was all very well and good, but I was more interested in the authors description of contemporary Russia. I listen to public radio and I hear about Putin and politics and social problems, blah, blah, blah, but it is a hundred times more interesting to learn (assuming the author knows what he is talking about) that ordinary Moscow policemen have to wade through a hodgepodge of random/outdated/contradictory laws, and that they cull tips from watching American cop shows...okay, that's a bit of a stretch, I know, but still...

Now I've gone back to the beginning of the series, which Kaminsky started in the early 80's before the fall of communism. Cool.



*When I was a kid, my dad taped The Hunt for Red October off network television. The commercials were annoying, and all the swear words were awkwardly voiced over, but I must of watched that movie a hundred times. At one point Sean Connery - a Russian with an inexplicable Scottish accent - says to Alec Baldwin, "Вы говорите на русском языке?," ("You speak Russian?") It was a moment.