Christmas Eve 1985. The shaved, exsanguinated body of a young man is found in Red Square frozen solid - like marble to the touch – and missing the little finger from his right hand.
A week later, Alex Masterton, the fifteen-year-old stepdaughter of the British Ambassador disappears. Army Intelligence Officer Tom Fox, posted to Moscow following the death of his own daughter, is tasked with finding her. It’s a shot at redemption.
But as Fox’s investigation drags him deeper towards the dark heart of a Soviet establishment determined to protect its own so his fears grow, with those of the girl’s mother, for her safety. A flayed cat, hung by its hind legs from the ceiling of Fox’s flat, is just a warning. And if Fox can’t find Alex soon, it looks as if she could become a sadistic killer’s next human victim…
Perfect for fans of GORKY PARK or CHILD 44, this intelligent crime thriller set in Cold War Soviet Russia is a genuinely compelling read – with a cleverly structured labyrinthine plot, and a powerful sense of place. We loved this novel’s brilliantly drawn, damaged characters, from protagonist Tom Fox to the ramshackle Russian bar owner Dennisov, from spiky militsia officer Sveta to Alex’s nervy, intense mother Anna.
MOSKVA will be published in hardback in May 2016, and planned the sequel for 2017, also a thriller featuring the same central character Tom Fox, three months after the close of the first novel – opening in Cuba, and quickly moving to East Berlin.
