The Gentle Axe

After a century and a half wait, we finally get the pulse-pounding sequel to Crime & Punishment -- or at least, this cunning little literary conceit disguised as a compelling thriller. Maybe the period detail isn't as authentic as a Boris Akunin novel, but it's a respectable cousin. The involving mystery moves briskly, with well-drawn characters. Best of all are some long exchanges of perfectly crafted dialogue you may find yourself re-reading. Superb.

I adored this novel, and I'm so pleased that there will be a sequel with the same protagonist. Morris provides good plot, great atmosphere, and characters that are several levels above those found in most novels labeled as mysteries. Rather than skim over paragraphs about walking through the streets or climbing staircases, I found myself rapt in the small bits of characterization and setting that Morris includes in such passages. This is a great find for lovers of historical crime.

In case you missed the movie, Raskolnikov is the poverty-stricken Russian student who killed the old woman pawnbroker with an axe in Fyodor Dostoevsky's renowned novel Crime and Punishment (Enriched Classics). Eventually, Raskolnikov confesses to a persistent police lieutenant, Porfiry Petrovich, and is sent to Siberia. Now, R. N. Morris has brought Porfiry Petrovich to life as the protagonist of The Gentle Axe. It's 1866, eighteen months after his capture of Raskolnikov, and he's now an investigating magistrate in the reformed Russian legal system. The action takes place in St. Petersburg in deep winter, when Porfiry is tipped off by an anonymous note to "murder in Petrovsky Park". There the police find a mutilated dwarf stuffed into a suitcase and his companion hanging from a tree with an axe in his belt. At first, it appears to be a straightforward murder/suicide. But the autopsy reveals that the dead man was hung from the tree after death and a case begins to take shape. When one of the dwarf's acquaintances turns out to be another poverty-stricken student who is in love with a gentle prostitute, Porfiry Petrovich has to wonder if the past is repeating itself. The book moves quickly through the frozen landscape of St Petersburg where the rich stay warm and eat well and the poor freeze and starve. Although the legal system has been reformed, the police and magistrates still operate under the imperial caste system: a wealthy witness is believed while a poor one is either discounted or perhaps sent to Siberia. As Porfiry Petrovich tries to navigate a compassionate yet moral path through the turmoil of 1866 Russia we are drawn with him into the poverty, corruption and decay at the heart of an empire. Ultimately, the plot threads draw together to a shocking climax. I found the book to be a delicious foray into the tortured Russian soul and a well-plotted mystery to boot. Here's hoping the author will create a series based on the Porfiry Petrovich character. He's likeable, kind and very Russian.

Set in 1867 St. Petersburg, Russia, The Gentle Axe is an audiobook mystery novel starring police investigator Porfiry Petrovich - the same character from Dostoevsky's classic novel, "Crime and Punishment". When an elderly woman discovers the horrific scene of a hanged peasant with a bloody axe, and the corpse of a dwarf tucked into a suitcase, Petrovich suspects that the full truth behind the crime is more complex than an initial glance would suggest. Following his investigation into brothels, drinking dens, and squalid hovels infested with poverty to the upper strata populated by the well-to-do, Petrovich uncovers human darkness to shock and terrify, culminating in a thrilling climax. Award-winning audio performer Simon Vance flawlessly narrates this captivating and highly recommended saga of suspense. 8 CDs, 10 hours, unabridged.

nothing is more difficult than to understand him. Fyodor Dostoevsky. It takes audacity for an author to choose a great novel or a well-known protagonist from another author's work as the starting off point for his own work. It takes an even greater amount of talent to pull it off. Many have tried and many have failed. There have been some notable successes, however. Jon Clinch's new novel, "Finn", which took a character from Mark Twain's Huck Finn is one. R.N. Morris' novel "The Gentle Axe" is another. He has taken St. Petersburg, Russia's police magistrate Porfiry Petrovich from the pages of Fyodor Dostoevsky's magnificent "Crime and Punishment" and placed him in charge of a new criminal investigation . "The Gentle Axe" manages to be an entertaining novel on its own while doing no disservice to the memory of one of the great novels of all time. The story starts off with, no surprise here, dead bodies. An aging, former St. Petersburg prostitute finds two bodies in a snow-covered St. Petersburg park; a dwarf who has been hacked to death and stuffed into a suitcase and another man, a peasant, hanging from a nearby tree. Although Magistrate Petrovich suspects that this is a double-homicide his `superiors' are determined to consider this a murder-suicide and close the investigation. But, Petrovich plods on and what seemed at first blush to be a simple plot turns out to be a complicated look into St. Petersburg's `heart of darkness'. Petrovich's investigation takes him to a world of brothels, child pornographers, and poverty-stricken university students who have little food and less clothing but who are rich in nihilism and despair. It is one such student, Pavel Virginisky who capture Petrovich's imagination, a student whose every movement and whose every word invokes in Petrovich the memory of Raskolnikov whose confession he obtained in Crime and Punishment. The conversations between Petrovich and Virginsky form the emotional core of the book. I very much enjoyed "The Gentle Axe". It has been almost thirty years since I've read "Crime and Punishment" so I cannot state with any certainty whether or not Morris has captured Petrovich's essence (or whether he tried to do so). However, Morris' Petrovich is well-drawn and with an appropriately dark Russian soul even if taken as a stand-alone character. The plot moves along very nicely. Morris has a nice descriptive touch and his portrayal of life amongst the demimonde in 19th-century St. Petersburg feels as if it is very accurate. The dialogue is sharp even if Petrovich and some of the other characters seem a bit florid and prone to excessive word play at times. I particularly liked the portrayal of the medical examiner whose sarcasm and mordant observations would serve him well in even the most modern crime lab. The only (mild) criticism for me came as the booked reached its conclusion. In many books of this genre there is a great revelatory moment where all the loose ends are tied up.