The White Russian

by Tom Bradby

Book Overview

St Petersburg 1917. The capital of the glittering Empire of the Tsars and a city on the brink of revolution where the jackals of the Secret Police intrigue for their own survival as their aristocratic... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385508409
• ISBN13: 9780385508407
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 444 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Best Read

I rarely write reviews, but this is an excellent read. I read this in less than two days it was so riveting. I wish this was in a series of exploits of Ruzsky!

Zhivago-like characterizations and authentic period feel

It's the winter of 1917. Russia is in the midst of a debilitating war. Food is almost non-existent. Fuel and clothing are nearly exhausted. The populace is desperate and very angry at the way the war has been botched by the Czar, and everywhere, every day, biting winds and ever-present snow threaten to freeze solid everything not able to remain in constant motion. Into this bleak setting comes Chief St. Petersburg Police Investigator Ruzsky, scion of a well positioned and prominent Russian family, but himself only just returned from two years of vodka-sodden exile brought on by what many feel was a foolish defense of his loyal assistant, Deputy chief Investigator Pavel, after a case turned the wrong way. Now, two people have been murdered on the ice-covered river Neva, and despite the presence of the Okhrana, the Czar's secret police, it's Ruzsky's job to investigate. Tom Bradley does an extraordinary job of re-creating pre-revolutionary Russia, and his plot is so well designed that despite its length (454 pgs) and numerous twists and turns, the story unfolds so smoothly it seems to fly past. As the suspects appear one by one, Ruzsky's brother Dmitri; Ruzsky's estranged wife Irina; Vasiliev, chief of the Okhrana; and Ruzsky's secret love Prima Ballerina Maria - someone is feeding the Okhrana information and they threaten to pre-empt the investigation, turning it toward their own mysterious ends. But Ruzsky is known for his stubbornness and despite repeated warnings, including threats against his family, he manages never to take the full force of the opposition head on, until finally there's enough information to begin piecing together the big picture. I enjoyed this read very much. It made a nice change of pace for me. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys descriptive and evocative characterizations wrapped around a strong mystery. Art Tirrell is the author of the 2007 adventure novel The Secret Ever Keeps. "...portrayal of Jake as a man who rises from poverty to a position of wealth, the power wealth can buy, and the self-destruction it causes is superb." - Historical Novel Review (2008)

A great follow-up to "The Master of Rain"

I read a lot of historical fiction. The two things that draw my attention & garner my enthusiasm are (1) authentic historical setting & details, and (2) a plot & characters more interesting than a mere "history book". In his first novel "The Master of Rain" set in 1920s Shanghai, Tom Bradby delivered on both of these in spades. As a follow-up to this impressive debut, "The White Russian" does not disappoint.Set in St. Petersburg during the first stirrings of the Bolshevik revolution, this book rings with impressive authenticity. The detachment of the Tsar's regime, the role of the secret police, the aristocratic class & their sense of entitlement, the desperation of budding revolutionaries, all of these ring true. A great setting for a murder mystery, as the story's hero, a discredited police inspector, finds two bodies on the frozen river outside the Tsar's winter palace. As the book begins, Inspector Ruzsky has no idea the complex & twisted path his investigation will take before the killer or killers are finally revealed.This author is a major new talent in historical fiction, & has twice now mastered all the elements of an engrossing story that transports us to another time & place. Where to next, Mr. Bradby?

An involving thriller

I wasn't sure about "White Russian" when I started reading it. Historical mysteries are not the easiest books to write and, from my point of view, a novel in this genre can turn only two ways - a great one or a bad one. Also, as I am Russian, a foreigner writing about my countrys' past... well, let's just say, that some books about Russia, I've read were laughable in there depiction of the country.Luckily, all my suspisions were proven wrong. The book starts with two bodies found on the ice of Neva river on the first day of 1917. St. Petersburg is a frozen city on a brink of revolution. The government is in dissaray, as people think not of how to prevent a revolution, but how to save themselves when it comes. In comes Alexander "Sandro" Ruszki - the Chief Investigator. He is one of those officers, who will hunt down the truth whatever it takes. And pretty soon the trail takes him to rather high places...But the book is not just a mystery - it's a story about people, who got caught in extraordinary moment in history - about love, honor, trust and hard choices you sometimes has to do to survive.The recreation of the place and period is near perfect. There are some minor issues, but I don't think that any reader outside of Russia will notice them. This is a very strong book, weaving a story around the real facts and persons. If you are interested in Russia, it can give you a good insight into its past and the Russian people.

compelling and haunting

Set in St. Petersburg (mainly) in 1917, while WWI is still raging and the threat of a popular revolution is ever looming, Tom Bradby has successfully penned another tautly paced and perplexing murder mystery/thriller for us to enjoy. Three years ago, Chief Investigator Sandro Rusky took the responsibility when a callous landlord was killed while in police custody. For his negligence, Rusky was banished to Tobolsk in Siberia. Now, his exile is over and he's back in St. Petersburg and almost at once he's involved in a very grisly murder investigation. The bodies of a man and woman have been found on the ice of the frozen River Neva just outside the Winter Palace. The woman has been stabbed once but the man has been stabbed several times and viciously at that. Almost from the first several things about this violent crime perplex Rusky. For example, the location -- why was so public a site chosen for the murders? And then there is the evidence that seems to support the fact that the murderer had carefully stepped in the tracks of the couple before and after the crime, only stepping out of them before he struck. And finally the savagery with which (s)he had stabbed the man over and over again, together with the murderer's strange abandonment of the murder weapon... Even more intriguing is the fact that the Tsar's secret police, the Okhrana, seem to be inordinately interested in this crime. But if these little bits of facts are perplexing in themselves, it is nothing compared to Rusky's colleagues's attitude towards the crime. None of them seem anxious to solve these grisly murders -- esp when all avenues in this investigation seem to lead to the Imperial family. Are they wary because they fear that their involvement will net them a fate similar to Rusky's three years ago? Or are they just fearful because a bloody revolution seems inevitable right now? Not sure of whom he can rely on, and with his own load of crippling emotional baggage, Rusky is determined nonetheless to solve these murders no matter where it leads, whom it involves and what it costs him...My best bit of advice (aside from reading this book that is) is to avoid reading reviews that really deal with too much of the plot synopsis or plot development. It's enough to note that this is a really excellent novel and a worthwhile read and buy. Tom Bradby does a truly good job of drawing out the suspense factor via a few really good plot twists, as well as keeping the pacing taut and not allowing things to become too bogged down. Also nicely done was the manner in which he conveys the feel of doom and panic as the characters in the book come to grips with the fact that a way of life is over, and that change -- violent change -- is in the air, and that no one is at all sure which way to jump. You get the notion, when reading "White Russian" that Tom Bradby really knows what he's writing about. Rich, dark and atmospheric, "White Russian" is one mystery novel that should not be missed (and I'm no

A Dark Time

Some early reviewers of The White Russian complained that it was not as "atmospheric" as Tom Bradby's earlier Master of Rain, which was set in 1926 Shanghai. I have to disagree. The White Russian is an all-around better book in that it is plotted with more depth and believability than the earlier novel, and the atmospheric elements are better integrated with plot and characterization. Master of Rain was enjoyable, but The White Russian is better than that.Bradby has set his second thriller to be published in the US in St. Petersburg, Russia, within weeks of the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas. It is New Year's 1917, dark and cold. There is little cheer. Russian troops are being slaughtered in World War I. Professional troops have been sent to the front, and only disgruntled reservists are left in the capital. There are food shortages, and the sense of unease is so great that some are willing to put a date to the explosion of revolution. Sandro Ruzsky has just returned to Petrograd, as his city is now called, following three years of exile in Siberia. He is a detective from a noble family, which has not welcomed him home. Within a day of his return, he is on the case of two very brutal murders-a man who turns out to be an American revolutionary and a young woman who was a nanny to the Tsar's son. The search for the killer will take Ruzsky to the Tsarina's sitting room, tenements of reeking squalor, his family home, and backstage at the Imperial ballet. The plot is tight and intricate without being ridiculously convoluted. The characters have meat and gristle. Within a very short time they will be plunged into terror and anarchy. It would be interesting to check in on Ruzsky on New Year's 1918 to see whether he or any of the other characters in The White Russian are still alive.Although Tom Bradby does not write with the existential ache of Martin Cruz Smith, he is able to touch the underlying disquiet of a time and place. This is a very evocative and satifying thriller.