'A gripping thriller and Belkin is a character many readers will want to encounter again' THE SUNDAY TIMES

'Remarkable … If only all first novels were as enthralling as this' FINANCIAL TIMES

'Merridale’s talents as a Russia expert and writer combine to beam light on the depths of Moscow’s underworld' THE SUN

Moscow, 1934. When a body is discovered during the construction of the glittering new Moscow subway, Investigator Anton Belkin wants nothing to do with the case. It will mean asking difficult questions of all the wrong people, and Anton has a very personal reason to keep his head down. But he has not reckoned with Vika, his former lover and now influential member of the secret police, who is adamant Anton is the best man for the job.

Buried in the tunnels beneath the capital is a dangerous secret, but one entangled in a sticky web of political and personal rivalries, deceptions and betrayals. Soon Anton must choose between his conscience and saving those he loves from the vengeful grip of the Soviet state.

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‘Both a brilliant thriller and a historical record of the ambition, terror and deviousness of that black era in Russian history’ Gareth Rubin, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Turnglass