Captain Alexei Korolev returns for a second round of murder, mystery and political complications in Stalinist Russia, where political complications can be murderous. Unnervingly rousted from sleep by a knock on his door in the early morning hours, Korlev expects a one-way ticket to the Gulag for the revelations involved in his previous adventure. Instead, he is despatched to the Ukraine, where a young woman working with a film crew has apparently committed suicide. The young woman is a lover of the Commissar For State Security, and Korolev is to investigate her death and make sure there are no loose ends or embarrassing publicity. Unfortunately, it quickly turns out that it wasn't a suicide and there are loose ends that stretch back to the Civil War and the early years of Collectivisation.
The interesting thing about Korolev, of course, is that he's a moral man, a religious believer, who fully embraces the glorious future promised by the Revolution. He's not a fool, though, and is all too well aware of the fear, brutality and terror of the State as it flails around looking for enemies. Nonetheless, he just wants to do his duty, and while the story has a blazing climactic shootout in the limestone labyrinth under Odessa, the real climax comes when the reader realises that the villain is fundamentally in the right, albeit the losing side of history. This is a series doomed to endings that range from bittersweet to cruelly ironic.
Meanwhile, this is a cracking mystery with a great setting, tense with danger, epic in scope, marvelous characters and a thrilling conclusion. Very highly recommended.