| The story is set in Moscow, Russia, in 1876. Erast Fandorin is a young police investigator, young and unknown but very talented. His chance to distinguish himself comes when he is assigned to work on a rather strange case: a public suicide of a rich university student.
Erast starts his investigation and soon finds out that the suicide was actually a duel of sorts, with two rich young men taking turns playing "Russian roulette." They both seem to have been in love with the same woman, so the whole things looks like a tragic love story... But Mr. Fandorin is not satisfied, he keeps digging for information and becomes more and more convinced that he is dealing with international conspiracy. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - very upbeat How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 90% Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 30 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - an organization Motive of antagonist - power The antagonists are: - foreign organized crime Setting Europe Yes European country: - Russia City? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths Unusual forms of death - exploded into bits Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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