Review: Daring and audacious; breaks new ground in the thriller genre
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 23, 2012
I read Eric Almeida's first novel, "Live from Moscow" largely because of its Boston angle, and to my great pleasure it turned out to be the most engaging international thriller I'd read in years. Therefore I eagerly awaited his second book "Minsk Rises", anticipating a similar blend of vivid characters, evocative locations, and high-level entertainment, even though Boston did not figure in the narrative this second time round.In the reading, I received all these things in profusion. However I also found some additional dimensions that gave the book notable originality and depth---of the sort that I've seldom found in the thriller genre.The character of Russell Piper, the U.S intelligence operative, to put it plainly, is one-of-a-kind. At first I found him salacious, even shocking. Let me frame it this way; I thought, early on, that this was not the sort of book I'd recommend to my wife or sister. As the story progressed and Piper gained more subtlety, though, I realized Almeida uses him to address some controversial and challenging themes, particularly the connection between sports and sex, which has occurred to me often in the past but which I've never found articulated to this extent. And the interactions between Piper and the two other main characters of Lena Antonova and Evan Morris---impactful and authentic in their own right---were just as compelling as the corresponding character interactions in "Live from Moscow."The primary setting of Minsk is also unique in current Western fiction, as I've gathered. Through Almeida's vibrant descriptions, I came to feel as if I inhabited the city along with the characters themselves. In the process I learned in some detail about the current oppressive regime and internal politics of Belarus, about which I'd known little before. And the plot-line had me absorbed and guessing right to the end.What impressed me most, though, was the audaciousness of this book. Almeida continues to break new ground in the thriller genre. That alone makes "Minsk Rises" extraordinary and utterly worth reading.