Rough Beast (an Ivan Duvakin Novel) - Hardcover

Transitional chaos throughout the former Soviet Union gives rise to narrative confusion in this disappointing tale of intrigue, set amid the oil fields of Kazakhstan. Shortly after the brutal robbery and murder of his wife, Ivan Duvakin leaves Moscow for the barren desert of Novii Uzen on assignment for the Russian minister of energy. A conspicuous foreigner sent to topple the city's powerful boss, Duvakin finds himself in a precarious, dangerous position: the breakup of the union has led to a deadly power struggle for control of the region's oil, and Duvakin's predecessor has been murdered. Duvakin tiresomely bluffs his way through the novel, trying unsuccessfully to figure out what he should do and why he was sent. Aside from some clever similes, Olcott ( Murder at the Red October ) writes dreary, careless prose that generates little suspense and glosses over some potentially interesting characters. Despite the unusual setting, there is little here for any but die-hard fans of the previous Duvakin novels.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A few hours after Russian detective Ivan Duvakin (last seen in Murder in Magadan, 1983) is ``offered'' a reassignment from Moscow to the Kazakhstan oil town of Novii Uzen, his wife Galya is killed by burglars, his stepdaughter Anya takes a powder, and he amazes himself by accepting the assignment he'd fought (and replacing a predecessor who retired when an apartment building fell on him). Energy Minister Igor Chistoplotskii, hamstrung by the political breakup that's denied his authority over local elections, wants Duvakin to agitate against the incumbent apparatchik Momish--even though that means working on behalf of insurgent half-Kazakh Edik Mordachkin, who's clearly tied in some way to Galya's murder. It'll take a dozen sly betrayals, revelations of prostitution and black-marketing, and a full-scale pogrom before Duvakin's able to put all the pieces together. A characteristically convoluted plot, enriched by a bleakly nuanced portrait of the downside of perestroika in the provinces. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.