Red Square, 1985. The naked body of a young man is left outside the walls of the Kremlin, frozen solid - like marble to the touch - missing the little finger from his right hand.

A week later, Alex Marston, the headstrong 15-year-old daughter of the British ambassador, disappears. Army Intelligence Officer Tom Fox, posted to Moscow to keep him from telling the truth to a government committee, is asked to help find her. It's a shot at redemption.

But Russia is reluctant to give up the worst of its secrets. As Fox's investigation sees him dragged deeper toward the dark heart of a Soviet establishment determined to protect its own, his fears for Alex's safety grow with those of the girl's father.

If Fox can't find her soon, she looks likely to become the next victim of a sadistic killer whose story is bound tight to that of his country's terrible past....

Moskva is a brilliantly authored, chilling, and sophisticated first serial-killer thriller by two-time BSFA-winner Jack Grimwood.

Listening Length

15 hours
Author

Jack Grimwood
Narrator

Gildart Jackson
Audible release date

February 12, 2019
Language

English
Publisher

Tantor Audio
ASIN

B07N2XLBL2
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	15 hours
Author	Jack Grimwood
Narrator	Gildart Jackson
Audible.com Release Date	February 12, 2019
Publisher	Tantor Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07N2XLBL2
Best Sellers Rank	#74,929 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #468 in Political Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals) #890 in Espionage Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals) #1,881 in Crime Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

5 star		45%
4 star		25%
3 star		16%
2 star		8%
1 star		6%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Good but not Le Carre

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2018

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I could not see the remotest resemblance to Le Carre. If there must be a reference, I’d say if you like Tom Clancy you’ll like this book. It’s physical and fantastical excitement built around a hero confronted with and surviving utterly improbable situations. The characters he meets, the coincidences that bear him on his way and the manner in which he travels through locked down Russia while suffering his internal demons are as unlikely as his overcoming the many harrowing obstacles to his pursuit of an amorphous goal. The situations presented involve extreme brutality repeatedly described in exquisite and agonizing detail. All the brutality and heroism of the protagonist defeating his several antagonists leads to an utterly unbelievable climax and too cute ending.. Although the author has one character explain in a couple paragraphs near the end what had been going on and why, the "why" of the story was never clear to me. It’s a fun read in the sense of a "shoot 'em up" video game but if you are anticipating an intellectual challenge, sophisticated character and plot development in an immersive, believable story by “the new Le Carre” you likely will be disappointed.

5 people found this helpful

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David J.

A Monstrosity In Every Respect

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2018

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A ridiculously contrived plot that really does not hang together. Among other wildly contrived events, a woman who lives on the streets, dressed in rags, for years (who was once - believe it or not - a prima ballerina for the Bolshoi), turns out to be the wife of one of the most powerful men in Russia. He has not seen her or heard from her in many years (doesn't seem to have looked for her either)., She turns up at his dacha and immediately is reinstated as his wife and influences the outcome of the plot (such as it is). Poorly conceived, just unbelievable in every respect, poorly written and difficult to follow at times (just try to follow the floating pronouns and to whom they are intended to refer). One of the worst books I have read. No need to pile on: just don't waste your time.

8 people found this helpful

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W. Sterling

The new Le Carre? Mmm...that's a stretch.

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2020

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I wanted to love this book. It started off strong and then took a nose dive.

I'll avoid ruining the plot for anyone who has yet to read it but here are the problems:

- Random characters that appear and then disappear only to reappear chapters later, many with similar names so get a notebook to keep track if you aren't reading the entire book in one go

- Unbelievable characters - Sure, that Russian intelligence officer takes a western diplomat she just met to cuddle at her grandfather's dacha who turns out to be a high Russian official.

- How'd that happen: The same western diplomat riding a motorcycle across the frozen wastes of Russia and not noticing one but two cars tailing him then somehow getting one of those cars to plunge through a frozen lake. I'm oversimplifying but it starts to feel like a Fast & Furious film with Vin Diesel pursing a nuclear submarine in a Bugatti.

- Wait, it isn't over yet: When a third of the way through the book you have a stage with so many characters you don't know who is who, half the characters are unbelievable (the homeless ballerina who can tail better than a KGB operative and the crippled helicopter pilot who appears to be having sex with his half sister), and somehow they're all tied together by a barn containing a skinned family pet not yet dead three decades before.

According to Kindle, I got 31% through before I realized I didn't care about any of the characters or what happened to them, and 46% before I accepted I'd bought a book I'd never finish.

Is this the new Le Carre? No. I think they misspelled "Le Car" - as in that terrible little Renault you could buy only to realize shortly thereafter it won't take you anywhere you want to go and has no resale value. No one born after 1980 will understand this last paragraph.

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Ambrose Rankin

Good Spy Novel with Historical Mystery

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2019

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"Moskva" is a good spy thriller with a suspenseful historic mystery built into the plot. The novel is set in 1986 Moscow - the dawn of the Gorbachev era - with flashbacks to 1945. The Great Patriotic War is still an overwhelming presence in 1986 USSR. Major Tom Fox is a British intelligence officer effectively exiled to Moscow after a stint in Northern Ireland. He gets involved in the case of the missing stepdaughter of the British Ambassador and that leads him into a 40 year old historic cover up. Fast paced action; good characters. Four stars not five because I thought the plot didn't quite hang together in the end - a few too many coincidences to advance the plot (Fox's local bartender just happens to be the son of a main character) and the final explanation of why the girl disappeared didn't quite make sense. Notwithstanding - a quick and enjoyable read.

I don't get the references to LeCarre; very different style. I suppose every Brit spy novelist has to claim to be the next LeCarre.

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tkat

Decent Read

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2018

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Reasonably good , though a bit long, definitely NOT the next Le Carre. I've been reading Le Carre since he hit with "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" in the late Sixties & every book since; this guy writes an entertaining story, but there are things in it that Le Carre never would have been so descriptive. The sad thing is that a lot of the newer writers think it necessary to go beyond the idea of violence into descriptive sadism, which becomes a story in itself. Nonetheless, I will still recommend this book to readers to make up their own minds & I will try his newer novel.

One person found this helpful

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Montcler

Makes no sense

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2019

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This story is ridiculous. It's still the USSR and foreigners go as they please, do what they please (I was there as a tourist and it was not so).
Famous artists (singers, dancers) were taken care of by the state unless they had come against the regime and this doesn't appear to be thee case.
I quit reading before the end and feel that I should have done so before.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Frank Westworth

One entirely gripping yarn...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 4, 2016

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A fascinating, absorbing and entirely gripping read. Moskva is almost a classic tale of cold warriors, set in Moscow in the mid-1980s, when the red writing was most certainly on the wall. The plot is simple: a missing person. And that’s where the simplicity ends. The missing person is the British ambassador’s daughter, a rebellious teen, and the Brit tasked to find her again is a former soldier sent away from London to a place where he can do no harm.
The star of the book is Moskva, capital of Mother Russia; the players, the characters – and there are a lot of them honest and otherwise, likeable and otherwise – are as diverse, unpredictable, eccentric and intriguing as that vast city itself. Jack Grimwood paints a compelling picture of the social strangeness, the teetering complexity of the Soviet structure, the contradictions, conflicted loyalties and heavyweight friendships of that disappeared, collapse and failed attempt at a glorious political ideal. The stubborn beliefs, the flickering, dying light of the red star of Soviet communism, the relics of military conflicts and the ferocious personal loyalties – of family, friendship, comradeship and collapse, laced with unending humour and charm… all are here. Layer upon layer of careful plotting and clever characterisation, as well as some heavyweight observations on both Russian and British political structure.
But worry not if you don’t care about all this; if all you want is a thriller. This book boasts thrills enough for anyone. The action bounds along, the pace accelerates and brakes exactly as it does in real life; puzzles and their solutions are everywhere. It is a beauty of a book. Complex and simple at the same time, the writing is easy to read, the style effortless. More please.

23 people found this helpful

Lutgarde VERSCHATSE

Far away from the "new Le Carre"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 12, 2018

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What was the story? The missing girl or stories about the WWII? I think the writer could not decide himself... And what nonsense ... Moscow in the 80' and the "hero" is running around the countryside ... and no problem that he is outside the city (which was forbidden at that time)... He is socializing with army men (even generals) and police and gangsters ...KGB of whatever is following him or losing his tracks ..and a mysterious woman is also walking around making wax angels and speaking mysteriously .. . cruel scenes described in detail, murders and beatings and heavy drinking...a real hopscotch ... And all of that in the USSR of the 80s. It is the authors first thriller... I should recommend him not continue with this genre.

11 people found this helpful

Mrs. J. Taylor

Thoroughly gripping

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2022

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A gripping read and maybe even more so now even though it's been around for a while and is set around the time of glasnost, mid 1980's. I've not read a great number of thrillers but I would say that in my opinion this is not a run of the mill tale. It holds a lot of interesting twists and turns against an intriguing historical theme which I suspect may hold a surprising amount of fact intertwined with the fictional elements which makes for a very believable read. I stopped reading it at night as the dark hours add to the drama and suspense which may hold up a good night's sleep! So pleased I bought it and the next one which I haven't read yet.

Lyracat

Well written; marred by gruesome sadism

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 21, 2020

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This is an atmospheric novel with a great sense of place and time, complex characters, and an intriguing plot. I can't think of a single character who doesn't carry the scars of past trauma, but as the story is about late-soviet USSR and includes upper middle-class English that all seems justified. When the back story was revealed to be about the 1945 invasion of Germany from the east I should have seen the warning signs, having read a history of the era a while back and never wanting to revisit it.

Finally, about 80% of the way through, I woke up one morning, thought about the story, and decided I didn't need to finish it. My life has improved since. It's pretty frustrating to get that far into a very well written book and to have to abandon it, but the ghastly sadism at the core of the story was too much for me. I read this kind of stuff for entertainment and escapism, not to be reminded of the worst aspects of the world we've created. If you can tolerate it, good luck.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

A fascinating 80s Moscow story but not as anyone who lived there knew it [contains spoilers]

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2021

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What I liked:

- Multilayered plot which connected the 1940s and the 1980s in a convincing manner through a narrative of the old men trying to hold on to power while fighting the ghosts of of their youth
- Amusing descriptions of Russian equipment such as "Ural-650" and various other technological advances such as an unnamed but nearly silent white helicopter (which I can only presume was a version of a Ka-26?)
- An apparent disregard of human ageing in which decorated OAPs who held desk jobs for the last 25+ years present a real danger to young and highly trained special forces operatives. As a 38 year old I am keen on this idea.
- Overall a great book, made me think and read up on some Stalingrad and siege of Berlin history.

What I didnt like:

- There's little understanding of what was happening in Russia at the time of the plot. Dennisov allegedly had a bar that he "owned" in 1985-6. This would have been wholly impossible, the first "cooperatives" which were rudimental private enterprises were allowed in 1987 and none of them had an alcohol license. It would have been far more believable to position him as a general manager of a ministry ran canteen that served an unbelievable amount of vodka from a grand corner of an "gastronom" shop. This would align with a story of a deviant son of a party apparatchik. He would have personally made a lot more wealth that way too.
- The way Mr Fox finds it comfortable to confide his deepest secrets to people he met yesterday as opposed to his wife of may years with whom he is trying to save a marriage by being more open as a person. Greatly consistent approach there, Comrade!
- The way Tom Fox was just left in the hands of the enemy because the ambassador chose to ghost him makes no sense. Despite his drunken state he was an asset to be protected, if only for the potential repercussions of what he could volunteer to say about the Irish situation and how that could be used against the state.
- I got triggered by the description of an illegal lot selling cars under a flyover arch. You have to understand that a car represented perhaps 10-15 years of hard work in the CCCP. They were never kept in the elements. The deals to buy nearly new ones were far more complex that anything private equity houses can come up with in 2021. The cars were stashed in garage cooperatives, deals done in kitchens.
- Too much unnecessary detail about the murdered children (who in the end tur up to not be quite children but still too much detail) which doesn't add much to the story except trigger general disgust of most characters. slightly unnecessary.

Overall I recommend this book - its amusing, the plot is good and it invites you to pick holes in it. Perfect for two longish haul flights.

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