Olen Steinhauer Liberation Movements

Liberation Movements

Olen Steinhauer

St. Martin's, Jun 2007, $13.95

ISBN: 031233205X

On April 23, 1975, Turkish Airlines Flight 54 explodes in flight following a hijacking by the Armenian Army of the Liberation. Soviet bloc country homicide detective Katja Drdova is assigned to investigate. However, since the incident is an act of terrorism by an enemy of the state, Secret Police agent Gavra Noukas also makes inquiries under the close scrutiny of his mentor Major Brano Sev; as a police peer of the lead cop, Libarid Terzian, is of Armenian descent and was on board.

At the same time of the tragedy and the subsequent official investigations, Czech student Peter Husak, a victim of the Soviet crushing of the 1968 Prague Spring, resurfaces. However, the case seems to swing away from Peter towards a female passenger Zrinka Martrich, whose lack of information in official records makes her the prime suspect. Gavra interviews her doctor and her brother. He shares a tryst with the sibling, but finds the medical practitioner murdered.

This Iron Curtain historical police procedural is a terrific thriller that hooks the audience from the onset as readers follow an intriguing mentorship that teaches the rookies sleuthing techniques and political considerations that often trump the investigation (sounds like the US Attorneys scenario). Training Sev also controls the official inquires. The story line is fast-paced but it is the unnamed Soviet satellite country bought vividly to life that makes this a top rate whodunit.

Harriet Klausner