This novel is not a thriller, despite the fact that it is presented in this way (perhaps to ensure greater sales success) and despite the fact that the whole story is based on the exploits of a murderer. A murderer of whom nothing is known, whose motives are not known except that he kills ethnic Roma linked to crime, and who will never be caught. The novel, on the other hand, is an accurate description of the political dance between the ruling party and the opposition - in this case in Romania, but with many similarities to what happens all over the world - when some heinous event involving minorities occurs. Interesting, but at some point the attempt to keep up the pretence that this is a thriller becomes tedious.

this was a really good mystery, it had a suspenseful feeling to the book and I liked trying to figure out what was going on. I look forward to more from the author.

I don't think I have ever read any Romanian novel, but I know famous Romanian writers such as Mircea Eliade, Cioran or Ionesco, which are in school manuals and scare the sh... out of me. I thought it might be a good idea to enter this new territory the easier way, through mysteries. I must confess right away that I know Marina Sofia, the person who translated this book into English, whom I am honored to count as a friend, but I got the book on Netgalley the normal way, so I'll try to be as fair as possible.

Sword is by no way a normal whodunnit set in Romania. Yes, there are murders (several of them), policemen and an investigation, but who the serial killer is not exactly the point of the book. The core problem is that finding the killer seems to be in nobody's interest. It's not even the point of the police investigation, to be honest.

Right away the writer takes us behind closed doors, beyond the official version, to witness what all the inspectors, judges, ministers, presidents, journalists and other people with public roles are really thinking and saying about these violent events. And it's not pretty. By targeting exclusively Romas with a criminal record, the killer exposes the contradictions and weaknesses of the Romanian society: nobody can really approve the killer, but some parts of the Romanian population are hostile to Romas and don't see the killer as a bad guy at all. Soon enough the situation gets more complex as the murders are instrumentalized by politicians (oh, is it so uniquely Romanian? 😏), mixed up with other crimes that have nothing to do with the first, mixed up with geopolitical notions (basically, how to look good in front of the European institutions) and private interests.

Sadly, corruption and collusion between politicians and media are a universal problem it seems. Teodorescu was a journalist after the fall of the Communist regime, then a Secretary of State, Interim Minister for Information for one year in the 1990s, before becoming a Professor of political and electoral marketing at the National School of Political Studies in Romania. So we can assume there's sadly more than a little truth in the book. The result is rather cynical and slightly ironic, but it rather depressed me to find that it hits a little too close to home. I'm not sure the book would be endorsed by the Tourism bureau (nor was Dracula, by the way!), but I still hope to visit Romania one day.

I guess you have to be from Balkans to fully understand this book. The Sword is criminal thriller without any real suspects, investigation, witnesses or detective willing to jeopardize his career to bring the killer to justice. It’s a story about modern Balkan state, full of scars from her heavy past, tragic fates and uncertain future dependent on West. Ideal for corrupted politicians, bribable journalists and pliable people. Where truth and reality is created in small closed circles and broadcast it via gigantic media machinery. I lived most of my life in such environment. And still am. So I totally sympathize with the people from Teodorescu’s book. Ordinary, little people, easily manipulated and used by those who only want more power.

A serial killer is roaming Romania, cutting his victims’ throats with a sword. All his victims have two things in common: they’re from the much-maligned Roma community, an ethnic group that has suffered much prejudice and continues to do so, and they’re all criminals. Sword, as the press unimaginatively dub the killer, soon polarises the country, with some ethnic Romanians cheering the killer's targeting of Roma. Soon, the country’s ethnic divisions are laid bare.

This is a novel with a huge cast of characters and a huge span: the narrative stretches from Sword’s victims, through the police who are tasked with catching him, the intelligence agencies who monitor the simmering ethnic tensions and the national security situation that this endangers, politicians of all stripes who use the murders to jostle for position, and finally to the President, Prime Minister and cabinet ministers.

This is much more than a crime novel and is rather a political and social commentary, the Sword killings a catalyst through which to study the rifts that lie at the heart of Romanian society. The author is a former Romanian journalist himself and even served as Acting Minister in the nation’s Department of Public Information from 1996 to 1997. So he knows a thing or two about Romanian society and the picture that he paints is not a complimentary one. Quite the reverse, in fact.

This book is eye-opening as to the sheer corruption that it paints. Journalists and television hosts actively seek pay-offs for portraying politicians in a good light, something that the latter are all too happy to oblige them with. If a media figure then doesn’t pull the line, the politician bitterly complains and seeks revenge. Racial tensions are stark also. While poverty and the sense that since the fall of communism the country has ground to a halt as far as progress and living standards are concerned is palpable.

This book works well on these levels but unfortunately it tries to say too much and the narrative buckles under the weight of its cast of characters, all of whom struggle for the limelight. As for Sword him or herself? The serial killer disappears from the story for much of the book, and while on one level this doesn’t matter, the serial killings are just the spark to light the touch paper of tension, after all, one can't escape the fact that it’s precisely when the killer leaves the picture that the book starts to drift.

Well written tale of a country in chaos. You pay to play and the government is corrupt as it gets. Who or what is behind the sword? What will the opposing side do to get power? Well...

The writing style is unusual and for me, difficult to get into. I needed more showing and less telling to be trite about it.

I’m really ashamed to say that I’m Romanian and haven’t read this book or the author before because it’s simply amazing and the translation was perfect in every possible way.
I loved to go back to my birth city and be reminded of how much the political influence impacts on every single day and institutions, especially in that period time when everything was still unsure and people were still hanging on the memory of the communist era.
It's atmospheric and suspenseful, it shows the real and hidden face of those that will step on dead bodies to gain power and privilege.
A must-read story for thriller lovers and especially if you want to have a peek inside one of the most beautiful European countries.

I knew absolutely nothing about Romanian politics before reading this novel and, whilst i'm definitely not an expert, it's ignited an interest in a system that doesn't really get noticed much. This is a crime novel but written in a style that is more synonymous with a newspaper than what I would call a traditional Western crime novel - took a bit of getting used to. I enjoyed this though, a crime novel that highlights social tensions rather than a 'unique' serial killer and the detective looking for them. In all, a good read, a little heavy at times but, if you're looking crime in a novel setting then this is a good shout.

A really unique novel this one. Part police procedural and part social and political commentary. There's a lot of interesting themes here such as the way the Roma population in romania are treated. Add in corruption and more corruption, violence and ever increasing tension and you have a compelling novel.

Very interested in reading more fiction from Romania! The author is a political analyst I believe and this adds reality and an added level of interest to the plot

A very well written and documented book. It an in-depth journalistic narrative of the current situation in Romania in regards to political games, corruption and the highest level, press manipulation and a serial killer who threatens to stir things between Romanians and Roma community.
Reading “SWORD” reminded me again just how easily society can be manipulated by media and implicitly the political class and also, how every single person (important or not) is just a piece of chess for the President to move around as he pleases. From a serial killer to dangerous political games, this book has them all and offers a clear picture of what Romania became after the 1989 Revolution when everyone thought that the gained freedom will bring them better brighter lives. Journalists are being bought or their careers are coming to a sudden end if they can’t bend towards the ones who have the power, contracts are being offered to different business people according with higher interests and the game is dirtier than we can see in the movies with low blows at all levels

A really intriguing setting, new I think to most U.S. readers: Romania. I know very little of this Eastern European nation other than the background I acquired from reading Dan Simmons ' CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT. SWORD is set more recently, and what an excellent view it provides of culture, nationalism, government, police procedure, and the near-constant ethnic tensions. What appears to be a new serial killer is targeting Roma criminals. Police and governmental agencies are baffled. What could be the connection? Ethnic cleansing? And will the backlash target the majority ethnicities? How to catch an "invisible, " elusive murderer?