Published by St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books on July 11, 2017

Tom Fox is a British major who spent some time in Northern Ireland working with military intelligence. His bosses have sent him to Moscow to keep him away from a Parliamentary committee that wants him to testify. His ostensible purpose in Moscow involves writing a report about religion in the Soviet Union for the Foreign Office. While he’s safely hidden out of the way, he expects his bosses to decide his fate.

Soon after his arrival, Fox attends a party given by Sir Edward Masterson, the British ambassador. His wife is Anna Masterson and his rebellious teenage stepdaughter is Alex. Shortly after the party, Alex disappears and Masterson enlists Fox’s help to find her.

Fox’s daughter died in an unexplained car crash, a death for which Fox blames himself. His daughter’s death motivates his agreement to help the ambassador. Fox’s search for answers quickly entangles him with the KGB, with a Russian crime boss, with a Party boss, and with dangers connected to the past that are less easy to identify, but he views his task as one of redemption. Only by saving Alex can he save himself. He knows he is being arrogant and messianic, and perhaps suicidal, but he doesn’t care.

The story occasionally travels back to 1945, when the Russians were taking Berlin and wanted to assure that a German physicist would travel to Moscow, where he would serve the Russian government. Certain characters who play key roles in the present story have their roots in sins of the past. Solving the mystery of Alex therefore requires Fox to solve brutal crimes from the war years.

The story holds some poignant surprises, including the true identity of an elderly woman, seemingly a bit unhinged, who is known as Wax Angel. Fox’s background is convincingly tragic, but Jack Grimwood paints him in subdued colors, not in the garish hues of melodrama. His troubled relationship with his wife evolves as the novel progresses, and Fox changes a bit, to the extent that he is capable of altering the shape of his life. The Russian mobster, dealing with the death of one son and the disappearance of another, is also a convincing character. Additional moral ambiguity fleshes out the man who, in addition to becoming Fox’s drinking companion, becomes a key to the mystery. The broken men (and a couple of damaged women) give the novel its heart.

Some aspects of the story are a bit fanciful, but Grimwood’s prose is sharp, the characters have a fair amount of depth, and the story moves quickly. All of those factors, joined with the detailed background, make Moskva a good Russian crime story. Moskva isn’t on the same level as a Martin Cruz Smith novel, but it’s only about one level down, which makes it easy to recommend.

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It’s a brave writer indeed who pitches up with an idea for a thriller set in 1980’s Moscow, as we all know and love Gorky Park, and many have failed in its wake. But good news crime buddies, Grimwood has cracked it with the atmospheric and claustrophobic Moskva. With impeccable plotting, research and narrative tension, Grimwood has produced one of the best Soviet set thrillers I have read. Drawing on, and using to great effect, all the inherent and documented fear and suspicion so redolent of Soviet life within this period, Grimwood has crafted a supremely intelligent serial killer thriller, with a depth of characterisation that will draw in admirers of other exponents of this subgenre. As the depth of  conspiracy and concealment begins to reveal itself, frustrating Fox’s investigation of Alex’s disappearance, there is a crackling tension to the book throughout, compounded by Grimwood’s unflinching analysis of the weaknesses and dangers of the Soviet state that so consistently thwart Fox, giving him a slippery grasp on truth amongst the smoke and mirrors emanating from the echelons of power in Moscow. I’ll say no more to avoid spoiling your reading of this one, but you must seek this one out. It’s a terrific read, and Grimwood demonstrates again his real flexibility as a writer. Add to your wish list now.

It was Churchill who said Russia was “A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” This is a good of description as any for Moskva. It is a complicated story about a complicated time. The few years before the Cold War ended, and no one knew it was coming. Was it the words of Reagan, the continuous efforts of Western Intelligence or the Russians so badly losing the war in Afghanistan that signaled the end of the USSR ?
Moskva is also set in a different time, after the siege of Stalingrad and the terror filled entry of Russia into Germany. This was a time when the political officers allowed three days of rape and pillage, unless of course the men demanded more, which they did demand, always. A group of Russian soldiers are sent into Berlin on special assignment. An English officer soon finds out about their special assignment, but too late to stop them. Those actions from 1945 echo into the eighties, with the children of some of those players now paying for the horrific sins of their fathers.
Major Tom Fox is sent to the British Embassy in Moscow to keep him away from an inquiry launched by some Westminster boffins. He is a near alcoholic, with his marriage barely on life support and his trying to come to terms with the death of his young daughter. When Alex, the step-daughter of the British Ambassador disappears, Major Tom (sorry couldn’t resist) seeks redemption in his quest to find Alex, hopefully still alive. Her disappearance is soon linked to the exsanguination death of a young boy. Soon other bodies of exsanguinated children are showing up. Calling this a serial killer book misses the mark. It is tour of the houses of horrors that were Stalingrad and Berlin at the end of the war and Russia near the end of the Cold War. It is also a tribute the resilient people of Russia who din't want to accept the status quo and worked to upset it.
Tom Fox’s inquiries are both helped and hindered by the also near alcoholic one-legged veteran from Afghanistan, Dennisov, who owns a bar that Fox conveniently stumbles upon. He finds other allies, a Marshal of the Soviet Union, his granddaughter, and a larger than life Mafia boss. Watching over all of this might be the greatest Russian Hero of all, a homeless woman known as the Wax Angel.
In his official Embassy duties and through his investigations Fox makes some powerful friends and powerful enemies. The Heroes of the Great Patriotic War may be the elder lions of Russia, but they are anything but toothless and are still capable of incredible acts of horror or of honor.
Read closely and pay attention to the names. This is not the book to skim a bit now and then. It’s not the easiest to follow, and some of the decade switching took me a minute to catch on to. But the slight extra effort will be worth it. I’m also not sure I understand clearly the full story of the Wax Angel, but that could all be on me.
The last quarter of Moskva gives new life to the overused term thriller, or a new definition. In eighty degree weather I wanted to put on furs and boots. Mostly boots, I don’t ever want to be without boots. The intricate and riveting first three quarters should serve as a reminder to the horrors of today’s Russia because the past really does matter. Fox fights his own demons as he seeks desperately to save Alex, going against the monsters who were created in order to survive the Great Patriotic War and Stalin.
The West eventually won the Cold War, but Russia has won the peace and Grimwood adroitly shows the price both the Russian people and the West paid.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.