"A thriller dipped in poison ... Shares some of le Carré's fascination
with secret worlds and the nature of evil."
--The New York Times
The terrifying, lengthening list of Russia's use of lethal poisons
against its critics has inspired acclaimed author Sergei Lebedev's
latest novel. With uncanny timing, he examines how and why Russia and
the Soviet Union have developed horrendous neurotoxins. At its center is
a ruthless chemist named Professor Kalitin, obsessed with developing an
absolutely deadly, undetectable and untraceable poison for which there
is no antidote. But Kalitin becomes consumed by guilt over countless
deaths from his Faustian pact to create the ultimate venom. When the
Soviet Union collapses, the chemist defects and is given a new identity
in Western Europe. After another Russian is murdered with Kalitin's
poison, his cover is blown and he's drawn into an investigation of the
death by Western agents. Two special forces killers are sent to silence
him--using his own undetectable poison. In this fast-paced,
genre-bending tale, Lebedev weaves suspenseful pages of stunningly
beautiful prose exploring the historical trajectories of evil. From Nazi
labs, Stalinist plots, and the Chechen Wars, to present-day Russia,
Lebedev probes the ethical responsibilities of scientists supplying
modern tyrants and autocrats with ever newer instruments of retribution,
destruction, and control.
