"In the follow-up to The Silver Bone, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2024, Samson Kolechko must rescue his kidnapped fiancée while investigating the illegal sale of meat in lawless 1920s Kyiv - based on a real-life case.

Samson Kolechko and his colleague have been dispatched to investigate the illegal sale of meat. How selling cuts of one's own livestock qualifies as a crime eludes the young investigator, but an order is an order, and, at the insistence of the secret police officer assigned to "reinforce" the Lybid police station, Samson vows to do his very best.

But just as Samson is beginning to dig into the very meat of this case, his live-in fiancée Nadezhda is abducted by striking railway workers who object to the census she's carrying out. Complicating matters, the police station has been infiltrated by a mysterious thief, a deadly tram accident - which may have been premeditated - disrupts the city, and, to top it all, the culprit from Samson's "silver bone" investigation may have resurfaced.

Against this backdrop, it's no wonder the "meat case" takes a backseat. Yet, despite the rising danger, the detective cannot let himself be distracted from his dogged pursuit of the seemingly mundane matter of the meat sellers, for ultimately his fate, and Nadezhda's too, rests on it."

Never forget the heart of the matter!

Following the first book in this series, "The Silver Bone," this story is somewhat disappointing.
I gave it the following SCORE:
Setting: Ukraine, 1920s
Characters: Police officer Samson Kolechko, his live-in partner Nadezhda, members of the Polish and Chekist secret police, and a variety of interesting characters in 1920’s Kyiv
Overview: While young Officer Kolechko has been assigned the menial task of catching meat sellers, he must track down the kidnappers of his beloved Nadezhda and is sidetracked by a thief stealing from police headquarters, a deadly tram accident, and the possible return of the antagonist from the first book in the series.
Recommendation: I rate this book 2 stars
Extras: There are many parallel plot threads going on and, coupled with the foreign names and locations, make this story, at times, difficult to track. Several odd episodes, such as a wedding in the woods, are a distraction from the flow of the story. Reading the first (and better) book in the series so far is almost a requirement.
Thanx to NetGalley and HarperVia for the opportunity to provide this candid review.

I really love these books, which offer a brilliant portrait of a troubled period in Soviet history, during. the wars that followed the Russian Revolution. It was a harsh time, especially in the Russian republics, where the war was fought most intensely: a period of fear and upheaval, with old and new sitting awkwardly side by side, all of which Kurkov captures extremely well. The books have a fabular, magical realist quality that offers an clever tonal contrast to the social history. My only criticism is that they are a bit plotless, but there is a charm in this, too. Highly recommended.