Volk’s Game

by Brent Ghelfi

Alekei “Volk” Volkovoy is a complex antihero. He’s known as serious player in the Russian underworld; a violent and dangerous man who deals in pornography, as well as, anything else which will turn a fast buck. Fewer people know him as an heroic Russian Army officer who distinguished himself by his courage and cunning while fighting in Chechnya. Volk moves back and forth between the two characters throughout this story.

Volk is commissioned to steal a priceless painting, a previously unknown work of the master, Leonardo DaVinci. The painting, known as Leda and the Swan, is hidden in a St Petersburg museum. Maxim, the top man in the Russian Mafia, wants the painting but so does a powerful Russian Army officer known simply as “The General.” The scheme sours when treacherous cohorts betray Volk and make off with the painting.

The chase becomes frantic and the stakes go up as other players enter the fray. Valya, Volk’s partner and lover, valiantly fights by her man’s side and pays a major price for her loyalty. The pursuit takes them from Moscow to Prague to New York and back. The hunt is so complicated I won’t even try to explain it here.

There is certainly no lack of action in Volk’s Game and no lack of blood either. Volk kills at least a half dozen people in the course of this story and most of them cold blooded murders. None of his victims seemed particularly nice people so I suppose that makes it okay. The violence in this book can be extremely graphic at times and is not for the timid. Some of the interrogations involve carefully detailed torture and some of the murders are described quite clearly. I’m not convinced the vivid description of an autopsy really adds anything to the story either.

Brent Ghelfi’s prose is brilliant throughout this book and helps explain the mosaic personality of Alekei Volkovoy. I’m not sure I would have felt particularly sad if Volk had been killed at the end but he survived and I suppose that’s a good thing.

If you like action and adventure, this book is overflowing with both.