Synopses & Reviews
Review
"The Burning Lake is evocatively written, and Volk is a marvelous antihero. Ghelfi’s Russia is a soul-numbing nightmare of corruption, crime, deadly pollution, and lost hope. This one merits comparison with the brilliant thrillers of Martin Cruz Smith and Tom Rob Smith." —Booklist
"Readers who relish the darker side of today's Russia will welcome Ghelfi's fourth thriller featuring spy Alexei 'Volk' Volkovoy...The twisty trail eventually takes Volk to Las Vegas for an exciting showdown." —Publishers Weekly
"If Robert Ludlum and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn were to collaborate on a thriller, they'd come up with The Burning Lake by Brent Ghelfi. If they were lucky." —Keith Thomson, author of Once a Spy and Twice a Spy
“Swift, sharp charter descriptions and atmospheric evocations of fray, melancholy Moscow and the seedier streets of Los Angeles add style and color to a delectably complicated plot.” —Kirkus Reviews of The Venona Cable
"This is a well developed storyline that unites all the pieces of the puzzle perfectly at the end. It leaves readers with plenty to think about, without ever compromising the storytelling along the way."—Reviewing the Evidence
Synopsis
Another prominent journalist is found murdered in Putin’s Russia, shot to death on the banks of the Techa River near the radioactive village of Metlino. Katarina Mironova, known around the world as Kato, could simply fade from the public eye, one more journalist killed during Putin’s war on the free press, one more statistic in a grim tally. But to Russian agent Alexei Volkovoy, Kato’s murder evokes far more emotion. It summons too many memories, haunts him in too many ways for him to allow her death go unavenged. Volk's investigation takes him from Moscow to Mayak, the site of a nuclear reprocessing plant where a massive explosion occurred in 1958, then to Las Vegas. All the while the life he has known with his long-time lover, Valya, and his patron, the General, slowly unravels as details about his secret ties to Kato begin to emerge. Meanwhile, American contract agent Grayson Stone and shadowy French assassin Jean-Louis have secrets of their own to protect. Secrets born in the Afghan desert and the streets of Fallujah. Secrets about the tragic consequences of a nuclear alliance among venal Russian, American, and French politicians. Secrets the American and the French governments will pay anything to protect. In the end, Volk becomes both the hunter and the hunted in the glittering neon jungle of Las Vegas. Equally at home in the snow-covered woods of the Ural mountains and the seamy alleyways of Industrial Boulevard, Volk tracks his prey across the world trying to learn the truth about the story Kato died trying to report.
Synopsis
"Ghelfi's Russia is a soul-numbing nightmare of corruption, crime, deadly pollution, and lost hope. This one merits comparison with the brilliant thrillers of Martin Cruz Smith and Tom Rob Smith."--Booklist
Prominent journalist Katarina Mironova, known around the world as Kato, is found murdered, shot to death on the banks of Russia's Techa River near the radioactive village of Metlino. She could simply fade from the public eye, one more journalist killed during Putin's war on the free press. But to Russian agent Alexei Volkovoy, Kato's murder summons too many memories, haunts him in too many ways to allow her death go unavenged.
Volk's investigation takes him from Moscow to Mayak, the site of a nuclear reprocessing plant where a massive explosion occurred in 1958, and finally to Las Vegas. All the while the life he has known with his long-time lover, Valya, and his patron, the General, slowly unravels as details about his secret ties to Kato begin to emerge. Meanwhile, American contract agent Grayson Stone and shadowy French assassin Jean-Louis have secrets about the tragic consequences of a nuclear alliance among venal Russian, American, and French politicians...secrets the Americans and the French will pay anything to protect.
About the Author
Brent Ghelfi is the author of VOLK'S GAME, nominated by the International Thriller Writers for Best First Novel of 2007 and by and magazines for a Barry Award for Best Thriller, and the critically-acclaimed VOLK'S SHADOW and THE VENONA CABLE. His novels have been translated into eight languages and optioned for film.