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Book review: Moskva by Jack Grimwood

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Moskva by Jack Grimwood ( first published in 2016 by Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Random House)

Major Tom Fox is sent to Moscow to avoid an embarrassing and possibly lethal situation in Ireland. While in the country and developing a taste for the vodka, he is asked to assist with locating the English ambassador’s daughter, who has disappeared. 

In an effort to right the many wrongs in his life, and in a lust for purpose, Fox must track down Alex, and discover who has taken her, and more pressingly, why.

 Fox follows Alex’s trail, which has shadows in the past, in Berlin and Stalingrad, and forks into a mess of interconnected secrets, in which the weight of what has not been said could destroy nut just lives, but a country. In an effort to exorcise his demons, Fox risks life and limb to rescue the girl he has met just once, for her disappearance rings closer to home than he would like.

 His search implicates a number of high-profile military and political figures, both Russian and not. The deaths of other children add fervour to his mission and slowly illuminate Alex’s place in the twisted plot.

 Apart from an excellent and absorbing story, Grimwood’s true mastery lies in his ability to weave realism into his characters. Fox shuns the mould of heartless-dead-inside-alpha-male-military-man for the body of a person. 

He shows emotion, is flawed, is left reeling and gutted by violence and senseless killing… his is human. Similarly, Alex is strong and stubborn, but the reader never forgets that she is a scared young girl. Grimwood’s characters are ready to leap from the page and into your neighbour’s sitting room. 

 Moskva is a truly mesmerising tale – what could have been a cliché Russian espionage and war story, ultimately and tastefully weaves together violence, loss, and the universality of regret and compromise. 

The story spans Russia, Germany and Ireland, linking seemingly unrelated topics are eras with the common thread of humanity and the cruelties of which it is capable. I absolutely want to more by Jack Grimwood; he’s a dazzling story-teller. 

Purchase a copy of Moskva on Raru.co.za

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