Product Description

It was just another murder. Another Mafia shooting on a dark Moscow street. But for Gregori Nowek, the new Siberian delegate, this killing was personal. To find out who ordered his best friend shot,

Nowek must recover a vast cache of diamonds that vanished somewhere between Siberia’s mines and Moscow’s vaults. Plunged into a world of glittering gems and dangerous lies, Nowek races to find the diamonds before the world learns they’re gone.

His search will take him back to the place he knows best...Siberia. There, in a gem-filled chasm deep in the earth, are secrets guarded by the murderous greed of the diamond cartel and kept by a beautiful woman trapped behind her own curtain of ice. Caught in a staggering conspiracy, Nowek will risk his life to find the truth...and to bring an astounding act of deception into the light of day.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #154086 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Released on: 2003-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 448 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This bone-chilling thriller set in the waning days of Yeltsin's tenure pits a low-ranking Siberian politico and a Moscow-based FSB (the new KGB) major against the world's most powerful diamond cartel in the best Russian shocker since Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park. When diamond miners in the frozen Siberian town of Mirny are killed for protesting months of unpaid wages, Russian Federation delegate Arkady Volsky and his assistant Gregori Nowek travel to Moscow to confront Yevgeny Petrov, director of the State Diamond Committee, and to collect the miners' money. But Petrov doesn't care about the miners he's sparring with the London-based diamond cartel, threatening to flood the market if they don't meet his price. Volsky's interference gets him shot and Nowak knicked in a hit and run; Volsky gasps "go to the horizon" and expires, and the militia arrests Nowek for his boss's murder. Enter FSB major Izrail Levin, who soon learns from Petrov that the diamonds needed for collateral on an IMF loan review are missing. Levin clears Nowek, recruits him to replace Volsky and sends him back to Mirny to track the diamonds. Danger abounds in the icebound town. Nowek's local ally is killed and Nowek himself is trapped deep in the diamond mines as the hero tries to get to the bottom of a vast conspiracy, clear Volsky's name and find his killer. White (Siberian Light) keeps the reader on a diamond-sharp edge while lacing his fast-paced prose with black humor, engrossing gem lore and plenty of spilled blood. Surprising plot twists, stoic Russian survivors and a dash of romance add to the heady mix, as do the hints of another Nowek tale to come.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

White's second thriller (after Siberian Light) is another vivid depiction of the corruption at the heart of the new capitalist Russia. Geologist-by-training Gregori Nowek travels with his boss from Siberia to Moscow, where they are investigating the loss of a half-billion dollars in rough gemstones and asking for the money owed to the miners who work in the harsh taiga. When his boss is murdered, Nowek is appointed his successor and sets out to track down those responsible. At the same time, he has only two weeks to recover the lost gemstones, which are needed as collateral for a loan from the International Monetary Fund. Failure means the collapse of Russia's economy. Nowek's investigation carries him to Irkutsk and the mining town of Mirny in Siberia and into a world of corruption, theft, and murder. As brilliantly evocative as White's previous books, this thriller will be compared to Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park for its atmospheric portrayal of Moscow's environs and the Siberian outback. Equally impressive is the author's knowledge of the diamond trade and mining. Highly recommended for all public libraries. Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Maybe it's the almost ineffable sense of hardship and tragedy that makes novels set in contemporary Russia so compelling. Or maybe it's the characters' capacity to endure privation, combined with their mordant sense of humor and knowing cynicism. White's well-crafted tale displays all of these characteristics, and it also offers a fascinating, out-of-the-ordinary setting and milieu: diamond mining in Siberia. After witnessing the shotgunning of his dearest friend on a Moscow street, Gregori Nowek finds himself in Mirny, a closed Siberian city that produces the diamonds that are keeping a teetering Russian economy, society, and government from complete collapse. Billions of dollars' worth of diamonds are missing, which could endanger future IMF loans. The diamonds are also the key to the murder of Gregori's friend. Despite the deadly Siberian winter, the rampant corruption infecting and afflicting the entire country, the numerous attempts on Gregori's life, and the palpable hopelessness of his quest, White's determined hero marches forward seeking answers--and justice. Thriller fans will want to follow him every step of the way. Thomas Gaughan
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