Rating: 
Summary: Clever and different. Excellent read--couldn't put it down!
Review: "Monstrum" is a clever story with various twists and turns--part science fiction, part thriller, part murder mystery, part political novel. I became one with Constantine--felt his humanity, his idealism, his pain. But Montrum is more than a story about a series of mass murders--it is a commentary on the state of the world: who is the real monstrum--the mass murder loose in Moscow's slums or those political figures who run the world? Read this book--it is wonderful on many different levels
Rating:
Summary: Clever and different. Excellent read--couldn't put it down!
Review: "Monstrum" is a clever story with various twists and turns--part science fiction, part thriller, part murder mystery, part political novel. I became one with Constantine--felt his humanity, his idealism, his pain. But Montrum is more than a story about a series of mass murders--it is a commentary on the state of the world: who is the real monstrum--the mass murder loose in Moscow's slums or those political figures who run the world? Read this book--it is wonderful on many different levels
Rating:
Summary: A modern Russian fairy tale
Review: Being a Russian living in Moscow I have a certain advantage over the readers who were not brought up in Russia and have no knowledge of the Russian literary tradition.You can believe me - this book is superb if you see it in a way that makes the enjoyment unhindered. Please do not compare it to Gorky Park and the schlock of this kind. Also it's unwise to test the novel's characters and events against the patterns of the real life. Just see it as a modern Russian fairy tale. I am sure the author is familiar with the Russian fantastic tradition of Bulgakov, Odoevsky, etc.- the authors inspired by E.T.A.Hoffman. If you'll read these tales you will see that usually they start with quite veritable everyday happenings and the characters occupation and rank is stated. But a few pages later the fabric of reality is torn and the world of supernatural is shining through the gaps. The mood of the novel is dark - it's definitely Russian. Cowards turn into heroes and the heroes are traitors, former classmates are united by vodka but one of them is the chief of the secret police and another - the prime suspect. I was amused that one of the reviewers could not buy the fact that the rebellious general's husband was recruited as the dictators body double. What would you say about Stalin's comrade Molotov, who had his wife rotting in a death camp and still stood at the Mausoleum near his boss, flinching at his jovial inquiries about the woman's health? So see this novel as a perfect opportunity to experience the life very different from your own and even if you do not care for the Russian literary tradition the novel's beautiful(and mostly evil) heroines, courageous underdogs and exotic settings will make a couple of your evening very enjoyable.
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Summary: A Riveting Police Procedural, and Much More!
Review: Comparisons of _Monstrum_ to Martin Cruz Smith's _Gorky Park_ are apt. A very similar sort of thriller, Donald James' novel follows the investigation of homicide inspector, Constantin Vadim, as he searches for a serial killer operating in the rubble of war-torn Moscow, circa 2015. The future setting doesn't really give this book a science-fictional feel, but allows James to add a complicated political underpinning to his serial-killer plot. The Anarchists and the Nationalists have just stopped fighting a civil war for the soul of Russia and the clean-up and aftermath of the war only hamper Vadim's investigation, as they also make it possible for the serial-killer "monstrum" of the title to operate. The characters were very absorbing, the mystery first-rate, and James' exploration of the human condition very gripping. The conclusion did feel a bit rushed, following a long, leisurely set-up, and the book is a bit too dependent on Vadim's inability to develop political beliefs of his own, but this was, on the whole, a riveting mystery and I'd highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy, enjoyable, fast read
Review: Constantin, our hero, is a very likeable man: still loves his ex-wife, can't get over the death of his only child and makes nearly every woman in the book crave for him! But poor Constantin can't really enjoy all this affection, as he has to find out who kills all the girls, how to survive his friendship with Roy Rolkin, how to drink about 3 litres of vodka per page (more than 400 totally), how to overcome his allergy to V.I. Lenin (the office-cat who loves fishburgers for breakfast) and who his beloved Julia really is. I liked the book for it's surprising twists, the multitude of characters and the setting in post-war Russia of 2015. Downsides are some implausible story- and character developments, and sometimes the language: It's in 1st person and like: "Believe me, brothers, I didn't always look like this" (p1). The 'brothers' bit is repeated on nearly every page!
Rating:
Summary: Simply Brilliant
Review: Don't fool yourself it is a difficult book to read and I strongly recommend a sound knowledge of Russian history and Russian habits. Otherwise superb read,deep and breathtaking,original,and a well executed novel. Bravo Donald.
Rating: 
Summary: Future fiction masquerading as mystery novel
Review: Donald James has written a strange novel that I enjoyed, but only in a limited fashion. In it the stage is set in 2015, in Russia. Constantin Vadim has been transferred from Murmansk to Moscow to run a homicide squad, for which he has no experience and little talent. This, however, is a cover, as he in reality is to act as a double impersonating the Vice President of the new country, Leonid Koba, who is really the power behind the throne. No sooner does Vadim arrive in Moscow than it develops that his assignment as homicide investigator is going to be a real problem for him. For one thing, though his staff is large, most of them only engage in private enterprise for one of his superiors, and he can't complain about this. As a result, his squad of investigators is very small. In addition, there's a particularly nasty serial killer on the loose, nicknamed Monstrum because of the gruesome mutilations he inflicts on his female prostitute victims. Then there are Vadim's personal problems. He's divorced from an ideologue who joined the losing side in the just-concluded Civil War, an anarchist with a seemingly endless ability to prevaricate and justify her actions, though they are less and less moral as time goes on. Vadim also has an affair with an American official who's helping with the Amnesty program locally in Russia, and a flirtation with the medical examiner. There's a dead son by the ex-wife, who figures in the plot, and various other characters. One of the problems with this story is the way it's structured. I recently read a Mickey Spillane novel where the author managed to hold the final surprise of the book to the last sentence: there's no pretence of that here, instead the mystery concludes 40 pages from the end of the book, and the author then has to wind up the various plots. It's a bit anti-climactic... I will say, though, that I did enjoy this book, and would recommend it.
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Summary: A colossal and wonderful novel
Review: For readers who like Frederick Forsith, Robert Ludlum, Len Deighton etc. this will be the best novel they can read. Donald James describes with the perfection only a historian can, the future of Russia. At the same time, a perfect story, about love and crime, is presented to the reader. Fantastic, superb, I'm waiting for his next novel with great interest.
Rating:
Summary: thriller reader from Cape Cod
Review: I adore Gorky Park and all its sequels, and got this book purely because of the comparisons. In that respect, it doesn't disappoint. Not only do we have a hero in the Arkardy Renko mould but all the other characters are here too, in one form or another - the prickly but dedicated female doctor/pathologist/coroner, the faithful sidekick, the political apparatchiks, the beautiful still-significant ex. The 'life' of the feral kids, the homeless, and the dispossessed families, hiding in the undergrounds from dangers more real than imagined, is scary and probably closer than 2015, you get a hint of it in some big cities today. There's a-grade gore and forensic detail too, for those who like that kind of thing. Some of the (anti-) political shenigans near the end were a bit far fetched, and the purpose behind the mutlations turns out to be a real 'Huh? Pull the other one!'. But if you don't worry too much about these, and you don't have to with so much else happening, it's an enjoyable book with plenty of atmosphere. (And if you like it, and haven't read Gorky Park yet, you know what to do...)
Rating:
Summary: Full blooded Russian serial killer thriller
Review: I adore Gorky Park and all its sequels, and got this book purely because of the comparisons. In that respect, it doesn't disappoint. Not only do we have a hero in the Arkardy Renko mould but all the other characters are here too, in one form or another - the prickly but dedicated female doctor/pathologist/coroner, the faithful sidekick, the political apparatchiks, the beautiful still-significant ex. The 'life' of the feral kids, the homeless, and the dispossessed families, hiding in the undergrounds from dangers more real than imagined, is scary and probably closer than 2015, you get a hint of it in some big cities today. There's a-grade gore and forensic detail too, for those who like that kind of thing. Some of the (anti-) political shenigans near the end were a bit far fetched, and the purpose behind the mutlations turns out to be a real 'Huh? Pull the other one!'. But if you don't worry too much about these, and you don't have to with so much else happening, it's an enjoyable book with plenty of atmosphere. (And if you like it, and haven't read Gorky Park yet, you know what to do...)
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