Just finished reading Gray Shadows and here is my review:
Like her previous books, this book is imbued by Russian culture. Author Jullia Gousseva carries the landscapes of her Russian motherland. They are lit with the memory of many historical events, and in Gray Shadows she uses this heritage as a vivid backdrop for a new and exciting action-filled suspense thriller, with cinematic scenes and fast-paced dialogue.
The story opens with deceptive calm: “Everything was exactly like it was supposed to be. So far, the only unusual thing that winter morning was the bright sun that enveloped Moscow with a surreal warm glow.” This ‘Russian soul’ sustains the story in every twist and turn from that page. on.
Twenty-eight year-old Nikolai is a “tall, fit, muscular, and with prior military experience” bodyguard. In spite of the affection between him and Olga, the difference between them is subtly drawn: “He felt out of place with these wealthy people… Over the last few years, she had grown accustomed to this lifestyle. Nikolai had not.”
He is assigned to watch over a rebellious twenty-two year-old Natalya, who has accepted a position as a translator in Siberia. Recovering from an injury from his previous assignment, Nikolai assumes that protecting a spoiled rich girl will be a simple task. But in the oil refinery plant in the northern region of Siberia, nothing is as it seems, and Nikilai hast to sort out fact from falsehood in this strange, frigid world. “He watched the bleak landscape roll by: the tall mounds of snow, the dwarf trees, and the low darkening sky.”
Indeed, with such a banal assignment, and a seemingly innocent client, what’s the worst that can happen? No spoilers here, except to say this: find out. five stars.
Like her previous books, this book is imbued by Russian culture. Author Jullia Gousseva carries the landscapes of her Russian motherland. They are lit with the memory of many historical events, and in Gray Shadows she uses this heritage as a vivid backdrop for a new and exciting action-filled suspense thriller, with cinematic scenes and fast-paced dialogue.
The story opens with deceptive calm: “Everything was exactly like it was supposed to be. So far, the only unusual thing that winter morning was the bright sun that enveloped Moscow with a surreal warm glow.” This ‘Russian soul’ sustains the story in every twist and turn from that page. on.
Twenty-eight year-old Nikolai is a “tall, fit, muscular, and with prior military experience” bodyguard. In spite of the affection between him and Olga, the difference between them is subtly drawn: “He felt out of place with these wealthy people… Over the last few years, she had grown accustomed to this lifestyle. Nikolai had not.”
He is assigned to watch over a rebellious twenty-two year-old Natalya, who has accepted a position as a translator in Siberia. Recovering from an injury from his previous assignment, Nikolai assumes that protecting a spoiled rich girl will be a simple task. But in the oil refinery plant in the northern region of Siberia, nothing is as it seems, and Nikilai hast to sort out fact from falsehood in this strange, frigid world. “He watched the bleak landscape roll by: the tall mounds of snow, the dwarf trees, and the low darkening sky.”
Indeed, with such a banal assignment, and a seemingly innocent client, what’s the worst that can happen? No spoilers here, except to say this: find out.
five stars.