Audio Book Description:
Investigator Arkady Renko has been assigned the thankless job of investigating sightings of the ghost of Joseph Stalin-a new phenomenon thatseems part political hocus pocus, part wishful thinking. Amongmany Russians, Stalin is againpopular-unlike Renko, the pariah of the Moscow prosecutor`soffice, whose lover has left him for a charismatic detective Renko suspects is a killer forhire. The cases entwine,and Renko`s quest becomes a personalinquiry fueled by jealousy. The investigation leads to the fields outside Moscow where a million soldiers once fought. There, amidst the detritus,Renko must confront the ghost of his own father, a favorite general of Stalin`s. In these barren fields, patriots and shady entrepreneurs collectthe bones, weapons and personaleffects of slain World War II soldiers, and findthat even amongthe dead there are surprises.