Dead Meat

Rating:
Summary: Absolute failure
Review: It is amazing to see Philip Kerr's talent dimishing so rapidly. Every new book brings more disappointment. Wish he could get the Russian names right at least!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent; if you like Gorky Park, you'll like Red Meat.
Review: Philip Kerr writes a great detective novel. In "Red Meat", Kerr weaves an interesting yarn of modern day Russia with all the intrigue of the new Russian Mafia. Kerr has obviously done his homework on current conditions in Russia, particularly St. Petersuburg (Lenningrad) and is very accurate in his description of the city and region. If you like detective stories set in Eastern-Europe/Russia along the lines of Martin Cruz-Smith's "Gorky Park" series, you'll love "Red Meat". I hope he writes many more novels of this genre set in the Commonwealth of Independent States

Rating:
Summary: Is it Mystery, Russian Sociology or Political Science?
Review: Phillip Kerr is starting to look like the Robert DeNiro of writing. In his previous book, he immersed himself in every possible detail of pre- and post-war Germany, with his mysteries unfolding within the thread of Nazism. Now, in Dead Meat, he dissects post-Soviet Russia, with the optimism, fatalism and corruption that riddle the society. Kerr has captured the Russian psyche perfectly, while winding the plot around the killing of a crusading journalist. How does a Brit learn so much about what hides within the heart of today's Russia? I recommend this book for both the mystery and the sociology behind it.