Set in the 1930s, William Ryan's The Twelfth Department is the third thriller starring the thoughtful Captain Alexei Korolev of Moscow's Criminal Investigation Division (after The Holy Thief and The Darkening Field). Ryan brilliantly captures the tensions facing Korolev, a man with a conscience who fought for the Bolshevik Revolution yet doesn't approve of the deadly tactics used by Stalin's NKVD (Internal Security Division) in the hunt for "traitors" to the Communist Party.
As The Twelfth Department opens, however, Korolev is moderately hopeful. It's the summer of 1938, his 12-year-old son, Yuri, is coming for a week and Korolev has some long overdue vacation time. Then Professor Boris Azarov, head of the mysterious Azarov Institute, is found shot to death. Reluctantly, Korolev starts to investigate, only to be told by an NKVD colonel that his involvement is no longer necessary and he should forget anything he'd heard about the case.
Not one to tempt banishment to a gulag, Korolev heads off into the countryside with his son--only to have the case follow him. Thugs show up, Yuri vanishes, and a different NKVD colonel asks for Korolev's help, leaving Korolev in a desperate race to find both Azarov's killer and Yuri, while walking a precariously narrow path between the opposing forces within the NKVD.
Korolev is one of the most likable detectives in modern fiction, and his precise but practical approach to solving crime in such a restrictive society is both intelligent and fascinating. The Twelfth Department will appeal to fans of historical mysteries and students of Soviet Russia alike. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm