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A review by markhoh
A Killing Winter by Tom Callaghan
4.0
Set in the remote, rugged, landlocked Central Asian Kyrgyzstan, A Killing Winter is the first in a series of four books by Tom Callaghan. It’s certainly an apt title for the book centred around Inspector Akyl Borubaev of the Bishkek murder squad. The winter is dark and bleak and there’s plenty of killing. In fact, the killing is actually quite relentless as Borubaev uncovers a series of violent murders with multiple perpetrators and motives. What starts as an investigation into a particularly gruesome murder of a senior government official’s daughter quickly turns into an exposure of a plot to cause to terror and confusion in a region where political tensions run rife.
The plot runs thick and fast throughout the book and Borubaev ricochets from violence to violence. There’s very little if anything that is happy in this book, as Borubaev grieves the death of his wife 12 months earlier. His processing of her death and his grief is an underpinning theme throughout the book.
Despite the violence, bloodshed, death and sadness prevalent in this dark tale, Callaghan brings an amazing insight into the underbelly of Kyrgyzstan, a brief insight into the political tensions that exist between the ‘stans’ and Russia, an understanding of the strategic positioning of the country on the Silk Road, and a gruelling description of a dark wintry landscape. While it doesn’t make for a tourist advertisement for Kyrgyzstan it certainly does fill me with intrigue to understand more of this part of the world that has so much history yet so unknown. That’s what I love in a book. Dark, damaged heroes and dark, intriguing landscapes. A Killing Winter is a tick for me on both those.
The plot runs thick and fast throughout the book and Borubaev ricochets from violence to violence. There’s very little if anything that is happy in this book, as Borubaev grieves the death of his wife 12 months earlier. His processing of her death and his grief is an underpinning theme throughout the book.
Despite the violence, bloodshed, death and sadness prevalent in this dark tale, Callaghan brings an amazing insight into the underbelly of Kyrgyzstan, a brief insight into the political tensions that exist between the ‘stans’ and Russia, an understanding of the strategic positioning of the country on the Silk Road, and a gruelling description of a dark wintry landscape. While it doesn’t make for a tourist advertisement for Kyrgyzstan it certainly does fill me with intrigue to understand more of this part of the world that has so much history yet so unknown. That’s what I love in a book. Dark, damaged heroes and dark, intriguing landscapes. A Killing Winter is a tick for me on both those.