A.D. Miller's Snowdrops is a riveting psychological drama that unfolds over the course of one Moscow winter, as a thirty-something Englishman's moral compass is spun by the seductive opportunities revealed to him by a new Russia: a land of hedonism and desperation, corruption and kindness, magical dachas and debauched nightclubs; a place where secrets - and corpses- come to light only when the deep snows start to thaw...
A chilling story of love and moral free fall: of the corruption, by a corrupt society, of a corruptible man. It is taut, intense and has a momentum as irresistible to the reader as the moral danger that first enchants, and then threatens to overwhelm, its narrator.
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[I can at least be sure of her name]***
(Atlantic Books, 1 September 2011, 273 pages, paperback, bought from @BarnardosScot)
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Snowdrops is not the kind of book I was expecting but I thought it was a cracking read. The front cover and title made me think it was going to be a thriller. In a way it is but not the types I was thinking. Snowdrops is a psychological thriller. Once I started to read the book I found it hard to look away. The book is pretty dark at times. I was fascinated by the relationship between Nick and Masha. Things start out innocently enough but his increasing fixation on her, her life and the dark layers of Moscow she exposes him to gradually reveal something much more sinister is going on. Snowdrops took me by surprise again and again. When Nick finds out the truth, once again, it's not what I expected. Snowdrops is a great read.