- Hardcover: 243 pages
- Publisher: Chatto & Windus; 1st Edition edition (5 Aug 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0701147032
- ISBN-13: 978-0701147037
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 277,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Set in Leningrad in 1993, this book features a hard-bitten detective called Grushko. The background is the chaos that follows the collapse of the old order - the growing black market, the mafia and the neo-Nazi factions. When a journalist is murdered, Grushko investigates.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am a dedicated fan of Philip Kerr and have read all his Bernie Gunther novels and am impatiently awaiting the publication of "Prague Fatale" in paperback. Along the way I have also read some of his other works - "Dark Matter" and "The Shot" both entirely gripping and absorbing though dealing with two completely different subjects and eras.
"Dead Meat" is set in 1991, mainly in St Petersberg and deals with the fall of communism and the rise of the Russian Mafia. According to the leading mafia expert in the book, the Russian Mafia grew out of the black market that was allowed to flourish under Brezhnev and came into its own when peristroika and glasnost allowed the free market to tentatively tiptoe in. To go into more detail would be to give away too much of the story. Suffice to say that Philip Kerr demonstrates once again his uncanny ability to inhabit a particular time and place. In this case he vividly describes a Russia emerging uncertainly from 70 years of communism; shortages, rationing, bread-queues,apartments shared by two or more families and the Russian empire fracturing along disparate, ethnic and national lines.
The narrator is a policeman from Moscow sent to St Petersberg - "By the way, never call it Lenningrad.... That's all finished now" - ostensibly to learn from the acknowledged mafia expert, Colonel Yevgeni Grushko. Grushko is one of the main characters of the story; St Petersberg, resplendent with Imperial palaces, communist apartment blocks, contaminated water, teenage prostitutes and shell-shocked,struggling citizens is the the other.
It is a compelling and enlightning read.
"Dead Meat" is set in 1991, mainly in St Petersberg and deals with the fall of communism and the rise of the Russian Mafia. According to the leading mafia expert in the book, the Russian Mafia grew out of the black market that was allowed to flourish under Brezhnev and came into its own when peristroika and glasnost allowed the free market to tentatively tiptoe in. To go into more detail would be to give away too much of the story. Suffice to say that Philip Kerr demonstrates once again his uncanny ability to inhabit a particular time and place. In this case he vividly describes a Russia emerging uncertainly from 70 years of communism; shortages, rationing, bread-queues,apartments shared by two or more families and the Russian empire fracturing along disparate, ethnic and national lines.
The narrator is a policeman from Moscow sent to St Petersberg - "By the way, never call it Lenningrad.... That's all finished now" - ostensibly to learn from the acknowledged mafia expert, Colonel Yevgeni Grushko. Grushko is one of the main characters of the story; St Petersberg, resplendent with Imperial palaces, communist apartment blocks, contaminated water, teenage prostitutes and shell-shocked,struggling citizens is the the other.
It is a compelling and enlightning read.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Is it Mystery, Russian Sociology or Political Science?
26 Dec 1996
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Phillip Kerr is starting to look like the Robert DeNiro
of writing. In his previous book, he immersed himself in
every possible detail of pre- and post-war Germany, with his
mysteries unfolding within the thread of Nazism. Now, in
Dead Meat, he dissects post-Soviet Russia, with the optimism,
fatalism and corruption that riddle the society. Kerr has
captured the Russian psyche perfectly, while winding the plot
around the killing of a crusading journalist. How does a Brit
learn so much about what hides within the heart of today's
Russia?
I recommend this book for both the mystery and the sociology
behind it.
of writing. In his previous book, he immersed himself in
every possible detail of pre- and post-war Germany, with his
mysteries unfolding within the thread of Nazism. Now, in
Dead Meat, he dissects post-Soviet Russia, with the optimism,
fatalism and corruption that riddle the society. Kerr has
captured the Russian psyche perfectly, while winding the plot
around the killing of a crusading journalist. How does a Brit
learn so much about what hides within the heart of today's
Russia?
I recommend this book for both the mystery and the sociology
behind it.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
on the shelf with Martin Cruz-Smith
21 Jan 2009
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Similar to another review here: if you like Martin Cruz-Smith's Renko novels, you'll like this. The writing and the black post-Soviet humor shouldn't be missed. Right behind Berlin Noir: March Violets; The Pale Criminal; A German Requiem as far as the Kerr books that I've read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Adds a whole new meaning to the expression-fell off the truck
29 Dec 2005
Format:Hardcover
Kerr has written a provocative post-communist book that truthfully factors in the destructiveness of 70 years of Red Rule and the destitution of a super-power. He has captured the nuance of Russian Slang and the private language used in the criminal/police world. Lastly, the twists and turns of the plot are all plausible while at the same time comical for their surreal and absurd situations.
Unfortunately, Kerr has never touched this subject or characters again. If you love this book, and you will, "Wolves Eat Dogs" by Martin Cruz Smith, is a great companion novel.
Unfortunately, Kerr has never touched this subject or characters again. If you love this book, and you will, "Wolves Eat Dogs" by Martin Cruz Smith, is a great companion novel.
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