Experience City Of Ghosts (Revol Rossel, #1) Authored By Ben Creed Exhibited In Leaflet

a trip with me if you will into the heart of Stalinist Russia in this rich and vivid debut novel, City of Ghosts by Ben Creed.
Perfect for fans of Gorky Park, Childand The Holy Thief, I was incredibly impressed with this chilling and increasingly disturbing thriller

The absolute stand out feature of this novel is the sheer richness and wealth of historical and social detail, without it disrupting the natural flow of the plot itself, and with a real sense of keeping the reader engaged with this extra level of interest.
There is a strong sense of historical authenticity running through the book from the outset, and if, like me, your knowledge of this particularly fraught and dangerous period of Soviet history is largely superficial, there is so much to be gleaned.
Corruption is rife, abject poverty strongly in evidence but largely ignored by the higher echelons of power, and Creed paints an incredibly convincing picture of a society and city still bearing the wounds of the Second World War.
There are numerous references to the debilitating siege of the city, the reverberation of the incredible stress and want that this caused, and yet the fierce sense of survival that arose in the populace to overcome this torrid time.


In a society riven with fear and suspicion, where a single slip of the tongue can lead to a lengthy sojourn in a Siberian gulag, or an instant death sentence, Creed captures this atmosphere perfectly throughout.
In the dialogue between characters, there is a hesitation and procrastination, and a sense that noone can be trusted with relationships, both professional and personal formed with this lingering mistrust.
The reader, too, learns quickly that not everyone is as they seem, and this adds to the overarching darkness of the plot itself where a clever and twisted killer goes about their business.


Revol Rossel, the state militia cop is an incredibly deep and interesting individual, whose moral core and sense of right is put under a huge amount of pressure as the case proceeds.
With a flurry of flashbacks and glimpses into his past as an aspiring and talented musician, we again bear witness to the power of the state to suppress its citizens, crushing their hopes and dreams and wreaking violence and fear amongst them.
Rossel is sensitive and caring and on the surface seems wholly unsuited to his role as a harbinger of the rules and regulations that so strictly dictate society, and this makes him a compelling and interesting character.
As it becomes apparent that the hideous discovery that opens the book, may be in some way related to his previous life, Creed really puts Rossel through the emotional wringer, but never losing sight of the qualities that some of his colleagues regard as ineffectual imbue Rossel with a strength and decency that proves so valuable in this extremely testing investigation.
The book is incredibly rich in characterisation from Rossels militia cohorts, to figures from his past in some of the most touching scenes I have read for some while, and those that come under his investigative scrutiny too.


I have read quite a few books set in this particular period, and can honestly say that Creed does bring something new and fresh to this genre of crime fiction.
I loved the deeper cultural richness of this book, as some of it revolves around the world of classical music, with some intriguing clues being woven into this thread of the novel.
Peppered with Russian phrases and a brilliant obscenity that I have now formally adopted behind my mask of course City of Ghosts felt incredibly authentic from the outset.
Bolstered by the skilful weaving in of history and politics, I found this an enthralling and clever thriller, steeped in the feel of the period and the sinister atmosphere of fear and darkness in a totalitarian state.
Recommended./O. k

This book started out with huge promise and I thoroughly enjoyed the firstpages including the reveal of murders, the scene setting and the introduction to the characters.


Sadly once this was all done the story became almost something

of a literary thriller, the authors seemed more interested in displaying their knowledge of the Soviet of the time and there was page after page of talk about opera and composing.


Whilst the end was ok, it was still flooded with the music references that just started to become a bit boring as it was continual.


I did like Rossel and there was lots of promise if the next book is more plot based than I would most probably read more.
Excellent book that draws from a piece of history that should be better known, the siege of Leningrad, And, it reminds us of a better known piece of history, Russia under Stalin, I still prefer Gorky Park, but enjoyed this book in its own right, I felt that the scenes were drawn realistically and I could really feel myself there in the different places, The characters were believable and the protagonists were characters that I empathized with, The writing is strong and I recommend this book if you like good murder mysteries, Think a fresher version of Martin Cruz Smith, This is the first of two involving a Russian cop, It is at the top of its genre, Very good and gripping right the way through

This had me glued to it straight away and finishes off with an unexpected climax.
Are there more in this series This was the first I believe and I want more,,Well written Stalinera detective thriller with more than a touch of Gorky Park about it, right down to the bodies frozen in ice opening.
The comparisons with Martin Cruz Smiths hero extend to our Leningradbased militiaman and former musician Rossell, cut out of the same principled, stubborn stock as Arkady Renko and with exactly the same romantic/fatalistic streak.


The strength of this book is in the writing, which has an immersive scenesetting similar to Cruz Smith at his early best.
The lateStalinist era is vividly rendered in all its paranoid horror, the cast is colourful and the whole thing, with its emphasis on musicology and the horrors of the infamous Leningrad blockade, has a pleasing thoughtfulness, intellectual rigour and historical depth.


The central plot is the books only weakness, The serial killer element and its relation to the Leningrad philharmonic is clever enough, but as a whodunnit it barely passes muster.
Its pretty obvious who the villain is before we even reach the halfway point and you keep wondering how the ultrasmart detective cant see the obvious.
The writers yes there are two of them also rather overdo the climax to the point of suspension of belief,

All said this is still a decent thriller with good writing and strong characters who could easily carry a series.
The writers have a solid formula but need to keep readers guessing a bit more next time, Red herrings and multiple suspects may be a literary cliche but we still need them! Set during the siege of Leningrad in WWII, this shows how evil Stalin really was.
The book is well written, with very detailed descriptions of torture and murder, and is truly gory, This is not for the faint of heart, The descriptions of the intense torture and deaths of and by the musicians of Leningrad are genuinely stomach turning, Drips with icy menace,

Kryminał stylizowany na rosyjskie lata, Morderstwo, brutalność, bohaterowie i klimat to wszystko jest i było wyczuwalne, natomiast nie była to dla mnie zaskakująca lektura.
Czekałam aż się skończy, . . Brilliant. Thriller, deren Handlung in der Nachkriegszeit spielen, haben meiner Meinung nach schon was Einzigartiges an sich, Letztes Jahr las ich den Thriller Black Sun“ aus dem Bastei Lübbe Verlag, der identisch wie dieser Thriller in Russland in der Nachkriegszeit spielt.
Da mir das Setting bei Black Sun“ sehr gefallen hat, habe ich mich auf Der kalte Glanz der Newa“ sehr gefreut!
In diesem Thriller befinden wir uns im kalten Leningrad.
Es ist das Jahr. Wie auf Notenlinien werden fünf verstümmelte Leichen zwischen den Bahngleisen aufgefunden, Ein grausamer Anblick, welcher sogar den charakterstarken Leutnant Rossel erschüttert, Trotzdem muss Rossel den Fall aufklären, Als wäre dies hart genug, da der Täter fast keine Spuren hinterlassen hat, holt den Leuntnant seine Vergangenheit ein.
Kann er trotzdem seine Ermittlungen weiterlaufen lassen
Das Buch bietet direkt einen nicht einfachen Einstieg, da man mit dem grausamen Tatort als Leser vertraut gemacht wird.
Es herrscht eine gute Spannung von Beginn an, da man als Leser herausfinden möchte, warum ausgerechnet die Leichen wie auf Notenlinien hinterlassen worden sind.
Zudem gelingt es dem Autorenduo schon am Anfang des Thrillers eine sehr kalte, teils düstere Atmosphäre zu kreieren, Man spürt als Leser, wie der Krieg noch die ganzen Nebenfiguren sowie die Landschaften beeinflusst hat, Zudem kann man sich alles sehr bildlich vorstellen, Das zu lesen war für mich teilweise sehr erschütternd aber interessant, da diese Zeit ich besonders aus den Erzählungen meiner Großeltern kenne.

Schwierig fand ich jedoch mir die ganzen Namen zu merken, Auch wenn ich selbst mit slawischen Namen vertraut bin, fand ich es sehr schwierig, mir die ganzen Namen der Figuren abseits von Rossel zu merken.
Man trifft an der Seite von Rossel viele Nebenfiguren wie weitere Leutnants, Soldaten, Ärzte etc, die meines Erachtens nach, sehr komplizierte Namen haben no offense! und sehr ähnlich klingen,
Die Plotidee fand ich durch die Autoren auch gut gewählt, Es ist kein einfacher Fall, da ich finde, dass er sehr detailliert entworfen worden ist, Ich habe selber gemerkt, dass ich einzelne Stellen zwei Mal lesen musste, weil ich zum Beispiel ein Schlüsseldetail überlesen habe.
Deswegen ist bei diesem Buch viel Konzentration gefragt, Folglich kommt man in diesem Buch auch nur recht schleppend voran, was sich aber trotzdem lohnt,
Fazit: Wer also Lust auf eine Reise in das kalte Russland in der Nachkriegszeit hat und dabei einen spannenden sowie sehr komplexen Plot verfolgen möchte, sollte sich mit diesem Thriller vertraut machen.
Da es der Anfang einer neuen Reihe ist, freue ich mich schon auf den zweiten Band,
.