Red Square

by Edward Topol, Fridrikh Neznansky

A fact-based thriller about an attempted Kremlin coup and Brezhnev's final power struggle focuses on the investigation into the death of Tsvigun, Brezhnev's brother-in-law and a high-ranking KGB officer

Genres: Thriller, Russia, Crime, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Edward Vladimirovich Topol (Russian: Эдуард Владимирович Тополь; real name Topelberg (Russian: Топельберг; born 8 October 1938) is a Russian novelist.

Born in Baku, Topol spent his teenage years finishing local school in Baku and graduated from Azerbaijan State Economic University.[1] He also did his military service in Estonia. He worked as journalist for newspapers such as Bakinskiy Rabochiy and Komsomolskaya Pravda and wrote the screenplays for seven movies, of which two were banned due to censorship under the Soviet government.

In 1978 he emigrated to USA, New York, and lived for short periods in Boston, Toronto and Miami.

Reviews

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The setting is the Soviet Union in the early 1980s when Leonid Brezhnev was the top guy. The book is a combination of a police procedural with a panoramic view of how much of Soviet society and government worked (or didn't) back then - so much corruption. Igor Shamrayev is the main investigator of the death of Brezhnev's brother-in-law, Semyon Kuzmich Tsvigun, which was announced to the public as a suicide but which insiders know wasn't. The politics are fascinating - everybody has a reason to be paranoid. The KGB (secret police) and certain other government agencies, have ways to snoop on anybody of interest - planting hidden microphones and cameras almost anywhere. One of the co-authors - Neznansky - worked for quite a few years in one of them. The plot is fast moving with a number of twists. People get killed. But you leave with a definite impression of how a long time Communist society actually worked out, and why the USSR finally collapsed a decade later.

[Grada (BoekenTrol) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was my first glance behind the iron curtain. It was really impressing. The way of writing, the scenes described. I found it amazing and yet also creepy, that things really work that way.
I was of course old enough to realize that things are done differently in different countries, that my country is not a blueprint for all others, but... this was really something!
Well done!

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A special investigator for the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Shamrayev is taking a break in Sochi on the Black Sea when he is urgently recalled to Moscow investigate the suspicious death of Semen Tsvigun, the Deputy Director of the KGB and Brezhnev’s brother-in-law. The KGB have quickly commissioned an autopsy, declared the death a suicide, and arranged for Tsvigun’s burial. Shamrayev soon finds his avenues of inquiry being actively blocked by very senior figures across security and police agencies, with not so subtle threats being delivered to drop the case. A massive round up of senior post holders across multiple agencies involved in the black market is taking place, and Tsvigun’s death is being used to move against Brezhnez’s family, who seem to be at the heart of the lucrative trading, and to conduct a political coup. Shamrayev is not prepared to let murder slide and he has a letter from Brezhnev that provides him with the power to demand whatever is required to solve Tsvigun’s death and protect the head of state from scandal.

Topol and Neznansky’s tale spins the actual reported suicide of Tsvigun by imagining it as murder, populating the story with numerous real-world characters and scandal relating to ‘Brezhnev’s mafia’, which led a high life in Moscow on the back of black market profiteering. Novelist and screenwriter, Topol provides the engaging narrative, while authenticity in the police procedural and internal politics between state agencies is added through Neznansky’s insider knowledge gleaned as an experienced Soviet prosecutor before emigrating to the United States. The result is a political thriller meets police procedural in which the stark realities of Soviet life in the Brezhnev era is revealed: from the heavy state hand, paranoia, discipline and punishment, everyday resistance, black market, political corruption, and institutional rivalries. Added into the mix is anti-Semitism and rampant misogyny. The authors keep the story moving at a brisk pace with plenty of intrigue, tension, and attention to detail as Shamrayev tries to uncover who killed Tsgivun, what game is really being played out, and to actively intervene. It leads to a nice denouement and a couple of good twists, keeping the ‘what really did happen’ framing active to the final line.

[Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read about Moscow life during the Brezhnev period of the former Soviet Union.

[Alexander Dommerholt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een zeer goed in elkaar gezet verhaal over de politieke intriges in de Sovjet-Unie aan het einde van het Brezhnev-tijdperk. Veel personages in het boek hebben echt bestaan, en dat geeft het verhaal een diepere lading.

Kort samengevat gaat het boek over officier-commissaris Igor Sjamrajev van het Openbaar Ministerie. Door niemand anders dan Leonid Brezhnev zelf moet hij moet de dood onderzoeken van Semyon Tsvigoen, een van de hoogste bazen van de KGB. Al snel wordt duidelijk dat de zaak veel gecompliceerder is dan het lijkt, en dat het te maken heeft met rivaliteit op het allerhoogste politieke niveau.

Het boek geeft een goed inkijkje in de politiek van de Sovjet-Unie, maar ook in het dagelijks leven uit die tijd. Makkelijk om te lezen is het boek niet altijd; niet alleen komen er veel personages in het verhaal aan bod, ook zorgt de complexiteit van het Sovjet-systeem ervoor dat het soms moeilijk te volgen is. Als je niet weet wat de KGB, de inlichtingendienst van het OM, de CPSU, het Centraal Comité, het Politbureau, enz. zijn (en wie Brezhnev, Soeslov, Andropov, Chernenko e.a. zijn), dan is dit boek bij vlagen onleesbaar.

[Fatima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely riveting. I need a movie about it.

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has the ring of authenticity about it.

[Superkermit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prachtige scherpe analyse van de relaties tussen politiek, economie en misdaad, in de Sovjetunie niet anders dan het huidige Rusland.

[Ketil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soviet thrillers are great fun. This one's quite good.