The Stolen Heart by Andrey Kurkov

Andrey Kurkov returns to 1920s Kyiv in the second book of his series featuring investigator Samson Kolechko in The Stolen Heart (translated by Boris Dralyuk). As with the first book in this series, The Silver Bone, this is a police procedural. But it is actually much more an exploration of Kyiv during a time a chaos and revolution, with a touch of administrative satire and a smattering of magical realism. Once again, the investigation (such as it is), is just a scaffold in which to hang the story and does not necessarily fall out the way readers might expect.

When The Stolen Heart opens, Samson and his colleagues are called out to what they think might be a murder – blood coming out from under the door of a locked shed. It turns out that the owner of the shed had lent the building out to a man who was using it slaughter pigs. Only the distribution of meat without a permit is potentially a crime and Samson is directed to arrest the butcher and find where the meat has gone. This investigation, and the interviews with those who bought various parts of the pig, run through the book. But so much more is going on, including with Checka who have come in to the police force, with the local doctor who sets up a practice in Samson’s apartment and with Samson’s girlfriend/housemate/fiancé Nadezdha who at one point is kidnapped by the seemingly independent railway workers while doing her job.

With Ukraine still at war with Russia, it is hard not to see this series as a parable or sorts. But as such it is asking questions broader than those raised by the current war. There is a deep humanity in Samson and his exploits, and this is evidenced by the people he helps and who help him. Samson may not have trained as a police officer but his natural curiosity and empathy make him an excellent investigator.

But there is also, again, plenty of satire. At one point Samson and his colleagues go to interrogation training. Throughout the rest of the book, he and his partner struggle to put the advice (including blowing smoke into the face of the accused) into practice. And again, Kurkov is live to the inconsistency, irony and hypocrisy of the administrative system in which all of the characters work and live.

There is an overarching mystery here and Kurkov constantly reminds readers that this is the second book of a trilogy. The case of the silver bone resurfaces when the bone is stolen from Samson’s desk and the suspect is sighted out of jail. And Kurkov delivers a bit of a cliffhanger, thanks to the ongoing device of Samsons ear, cut off in the first novel but placed in a box and still able to hear for him no matter where it is.

The Stolen Heart is a great follow up to The Silver Bone and sets up well for a (possibly) concluding volume. Kurkov brings early 20th Century Kyiv and its inhabitants vividly to life but explores that milieu with a knowing eye and a view to the seemingly eternal struggles of people against authority, particularly in that part of the world.

The Stolen Heart by Andrey Kurkov

8.2

8.2/10