| View Larger Image | Chernobyl Murders (Lazlo Horvath Thriller) | Hardcoverby Michael Beres (Author)
| List Price: | $25.95 | | Price: | $17.13 | | You Save: | $8.82 (34%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | Medallion Press | | Edition: | 1st Edition | | Page Count: | 500 Pages | | Publication Date: | June 01, 2008 | | Sales Rank: | 1,179,314st |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
In a western Ukraine wine cellar in 1985, Chernobyl engineer Mihaly Horvath discloses the unnecessary risks associated with the power plant to his brother, Kiev Militia detective Lazlo. Spawned by a desire to protect his family, Lazlo investigates—irritating his superiors, drawing the attention of a CIA operative, raising the hackles of an old KGB major, and ultimately discovering his brother’s secret affair with a Chernobyl technician, Juli Popovics. After the explosion, the Ukraine is not only blanketed with deadly radiation, but also becomes a killing ground involving pre-perestroika factions in disarray, a Soviet government on its last legs, and madmen hungry for power. With a poisoned environment at their backs and a killer snapping at their heels, Lazlo and Juli flee for their lives—and their love—in this engrossing political thriller. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 3 reviews)
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enlightening historical fiction by the archer (Portland, Oregon)  5 Stars
January 19, 2009
While waiting for snarled traffic from a snowstorm to abate, I stopped in at a local library. On the "new fiction" bookshelf was this book. I picked it up and sat down to kill some time. So quickly was I caught up in the story that it was with an effort of will that I returned the book to the shelf to make my way home. Weeks later I checked it out and stayed up later than I should have one night to finish it. Several aspects make this book a compelling story. We've all heard about Chernobyl but only as a distant event. This account uses the facts of that event as a backdrop to a suspenseful novel, involving plant personnel, a lonely Kiev police detective, a ruthless KGB major determined to exploit the disaster as deliberate sabotage, and others. The characters and events are not formulaic but believable. The technical details of the event are minimal; just enough to provide a sense of what went wrong and the devastating effects. The self-defeating mind-set of the USSR to repress news of any disaster is powerfully described, as rumors provoke panic while the authorities blandly downplay the event until downwind countries report alarming radiation levels. All that is still only a fascinating backdrop to the human drama of detective Hovarth, his concern for his brother--a technician present at the time of the explosion--and his brother's family, and Major Komarov's cynical plot to set up the Hovarths to further his own career. I'll be looking into other books by Michael Beres. For another eye-opening book into the repressive USSR system, I'd highly recommend Hedrick Smith's "The Russians" . It's non-fiction, and also documents the Soviets' highly creative ways to cope with the system--and their many wonderful jokes about the system.
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Chicago Tribune Reviewed Highly by V. O'Connor 5 Stars
December 20, 2008
I picked up this book after reading a review in the Chicago Tribune that said it was "Ludlumesque" in its pacing and detail and compared the writing to John le Carre, Tom Clancy and Len Deighton. The review was correct. It's nice now and then to find a relative unknown writer who writes with such passion. Obviously Beres knows the region and Chernobyl details and was able to put it together into an engaging thriller. The characters in the book really draw the reader in. Beres' biography indicates he has the nuclear experience via a government job. I like thrillers, mysteries and romance novels and highly recommend this book.
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exciting Cold War murder mystery by Harriet Klausner 5 Stars
June 03, 2008
In 1985 in Western Ukraine, Chernobyl engineer Mihaly Horvath is upset at what is going on at the nuclear plant. He believes safety is being ignored and unnecessary risks taken. His brother Lazlo, a Kiev detective, investigates the unclear facility, which angers his bosses, brings him and his family to the attention of the KGB and the CIA. However, the biggest stunner for Lazlo is to learn his family man sibling is having an affair with Chernobyl technician Juli Popovics.
When the Chernobyl plant explodes, Mihaly is among the dead. Lazlo wonders if his sibling was murdered to conceal incompetence and corruption. Juli informs him that she is pregnant carrying his brother's child. Meanwhile KGB major Grigor Komarov insures nothing but radiation leaks out of the Ukraine; he executes those who know the truth with an eye on the prize replacing Gorbachev as the Soviet Union teeters. Falling in love Lazlo and Juli flee for their lives from this incessant maniac who needs these witnesses dead before they reach the west.
Although there is an exciting Cold War murder mystery with an exhilarating chase, the star of this explosive thriller is the Chernobyl tragedy whose face will always be Nadia. The story line is fast-paced as the events leading to the nuclear explosion unfolds through the brothers, but it is the aftermath that grips the audience without the plot turning overly melodramatic. The Soviet control of media leakage (think what You Tube could have done in the 1980s with Nadia the Olympics Gold innocent and the Nadia the radioactive victim) and killing anyone who would pose a threat, but unable to control radioactive leakage that makes this a sensational thriller.
Harriet Klausner
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