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Book Summary and Reviews of Londongrad by Reggie Nadelson

Londongrad by Reggie Nadelson

Londongrad

An Artie Cohen Mystery

by Reggie Nadelson

  • Critics' Consensus (1):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2009, 400 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Through seven previous novels, Reggie Nadelson has created one of the more memorable characters in detective fiction: Artie Cohen, New York police detective and first-generation American with complex ties to his Russian past, especially his close friendship with the enigmatic and flamboyant New York/London club owner Tolya Sverdloff. Now, in Londongrad—by far Nadelson's most ambitious novel to date—Artie is faced with a murder that strikes at him personally and will ultimately place his best friend’s life in his hands as it challenges his own loyalty.

In a playground in Brooklyn, Artie is led to a dead girl tied up in duct tape on a children's swing. He soon realizes the killer murdered the wrong girl—the intended victim was Valentina Sverdloff, Tolya's daughter, long adored by Artie. Artie flies to London to tell Tolya and finds himself enmeshed on his friend's behalf in a maelstrom of Russian money and crime. Like Berlin at the end of World War II, somebody tells Artie, Londongrad, as it's known, has become an offshore island for the new Russian underworld. Over his head, Artie is drawn further in, to Moscow, where, balancing between the old KGB and the new FSB, between the dazzle and grimness of Russia today, he uncovers a painful truth about his past that puts Tolya's life in the balance.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review...Outstanding." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. There is an almost surreal fury to the action in an Artie Cohen novel, and if the narrative voice seems to falter now and again, such infelicities of style are quickly forgotten as one's pulse rate accelerates." - Booklist

"Starred Review. ... Nadelson explores what happens when the desire for increased wealth and power backfires. Fans of Daniel Silva may find much to enjoy here." - Library Journal

"[I]f the narrative voice seems to falter now and again, such infelicities of style are quickly forgotten as one’s pulse rate accelerates." - Booklist

This information about Londongrad was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Reggie Nadelson

Reggie Nadelson is the author of Fresh Kills, Red Hook, Disturbed Earth, and four other Artie Cohen novels. Comrade Rockstar, her biography of Dean Reed, the American émigré who became the biggest rock star in the Soviet Union, was bought by Tom Hanks for a feature film. A journalist and documentary filmmaker, she lives in New York City.

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