The Case of the General's Thumb

Andrey Kurkov author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:4th Mar '04

Should be back in stock very soon

The Case of the General's Thumb cover

An international thriller, shot through with black satire and authentic detail, by the author of the highly acclaimed Death & the Penguin.

When the corpse of a distinguished general and presidential adviser is found, attached to an advertising balloon, lieutenant Viktor Slutsky is sent in to investigate.

'Kurkov is a fine satirist and a real, blackly comic, find' Observer

Discover the international thriller, shot through with black satire and authentic detail, by one of Ukraine's most highly acclaimed authors.


When the corpse of a distinguished general and presidential adviser is found, attached to an advertising balloon, lieutenant Viktor Slutsky is sent in to investigate. Meanwhile, KGB officer Nik Tsensky arrives in Kyiv for a secret mission.

A larger-than-life hitman, bombs under furniture, a hearse, a deaf-and-dumb blonde, a tortoise and a parrot all play a part as Kurkov evokes a world of secret militia not seen before in Western fiction.

An ebullient black comedy... Reminiscent of the best Soviet dissident literature * Daily Telegraph *
Full of touches of grim insight and tactful surrealism, with just enough of the absurd to suggest a cross between John le Carre's Smiley and Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita -- John Burnside * Scotland on Sunday *
Kurkov is a fine satirist and a real, blackly comic find * Observer *
Kurkov flips from mock-tragedy to comedy and back again, planting the ominous and the absurd neatly among deadpan descriptions of a daily life in denial * The Times *
Kurkov received universal praise for his debut novel Death and the Penguin... Kurkov's latest is better * Time Out *

ISBN: 9780099455257

Dimensions: 198mm x 130mm x 12mm

Weight: 140g

192 pages