"[The Silver Bone is a] fascinating series launch . the finely drawn characters and harrowing descriptions of daily life in 1919 Kyiv leave a far more lasting impression than clever genre tricks ever could. With its earthy prose and stunning attention to detail, this stands apart." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Silver Bone "Rich and compulsive, a modern classic in the making." - Anna Bailey, author of Where the Truth Lies, on The Silver Bone "Original and intriguing. Relocates the historical crime novel somewhere between Kafka and The Twilight Zone." - Frank Tallis, Author of Death in Vienna and Vienna Blood, on The Silver Bone "A gripping whodunnit with surrealist flourishes . Kurkov brings to life an overlooked and much-contested episode in Ukrainian history, capturing the brutality with which Soviet forces first attempted to establish control over the city.
" - Washington Post on The Silver Bone "In the tradition of Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther . Kurkov sets crime-solving against the chaos of a turbulent era -- for his Samson Kolechko, the upheaval of Ukraine in 1919, when Cossacks, the Red Army and their White opponents, and even Chinese Communists battled in streets of a Kiev darkened by power failure . [The Silver Bone] poses haunting moral questions about defending order in perilous days, questions that reverberate a century later in Ukraine and around the world." - David O. Stewart, Award-winning historian and author of The Lincoln Deception, on The Silver Bone "[The Kyiv Mysteries] provide timely lessons for anyone living under an oppressive regime. These novels are more than detective thrillers: They are studies in the surprising ambivalence that people living under occupation may feel, even when those in power go to extraordinary lengths to cement their rule through violence, manipulation, and terror. And they are important today not just for their insight into the past but also as a guide for surviving the present." - The Atlantic "An atmospheric police procedural whose protagonist battles personal tragedy and a tangled system to solve his first case.
" - Kirkus Reviews on The Silver Bone "Mix[ing] elements of grim humor and surrealism . [The Silver Bone is] a winning offbeat crime novel that begs for a sequel." - Library Journal on The Silver Bone "[An] extraordinary sequel . Kurkov captures the atmosphere of 1920s Kyiv with terse, poetic prose, and punctuates his crackerjack plot with gorgeous Proustian reflections . Distinguished by its humor, heart, and subtle political urgency, this series deserves a long life." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Ukraine's most famous novelist returns with his second book about a detective in revolutionary Kyiv. [The Stolen Heart is a] highly satisfying sequel. One-eared Samson is an endearing guide to the vividly recreated Kyiv.
The novel's surreal, black humour is an ideal lens through which to view the absurdities of living in a Bolshevik paradise." - The Times (UK) "A historical mystery with some elements of heightened melodrama, Kurkov writes with humor and compassion about the pure-hearted Samson. [The Stolen Heart is] a Kafkaesque investigation." - Asymptote "[The Stolen Heart marks] a welcome return to post-revolutionary Kyiv." - Kirkus Reviews.