This is the story of a boy named Aleksander, who was raised by an abusive and alcoholic father, in Moratovo, Russia, during the cold war era. When Aleksander is faced with a decision of survival, he is launched into the biggest fight of his life – one that leads him to Leningrad and propels him from boyhood to the life of a skilled mercenary for the KGB’s Department 13, dealing in “wet affairs†such as spying, kidnapping and assassination. It is in this organization that Aleksander’s every kill, or decision not to, unknowingly impacts the events of the cold war itself.
There is a nice flow to the narrative in this story – the build up is so nice and happy until the last couple of pages. I am pleased that the writer resisted the temptation to rush the plot as mentioned in the synopsis. This has a lot of merit to it and would be an interesting ongoing. I’m not sure if this is a winner, but i’m going to add this to my favourites to see how it goes.
