The Death of Achilles
Boris Akunin is one of the few contemporary mystery writers accorded great respect by the literary review journals. Unlike other genre big-hitters like Marcia Muller or Carl Hiaasen, his books have been reviewed positively in the Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books.
But why he is accorded this great respect is another question entirely. Is it just because he is Russian? Is it because he is not afraid to set his works in the much-loved gaslamp era? Don’t get me wrong: Akunin’s works are strong, decent examples of the period detective mystery, but to me, there is little that separates him from the rest of the pack. Maybe something is lost in the translation of his most recent, THE DEATH OF ACHILLES, but Andrew Bromfield doesn’t seem to have caused any infelicities of phrase. And the book certainly maintains its essential sense of Russianness, attention to detail, concentration on bureaucracy and a byzantine plot.
Admiral Sobolev is one of Russia’s great generals, loved and respected by all. It will be a national tragedy when he is discovered to have died of a heart attack. It will be a national scandal if it is known that he had his attack in the arms of a prostitute. And now Erast Fandorin enters the scene, as a deputy for special assignments to the governor-general of Moscow. It is Fandorin who determines that Sobolev was murdered, but as he begins work on the case, overwhelming and powerful forces make their own moves in the background, moves that are sure to present Fandorin with grave difficulties.
Fandorin is Akunin’s series detective, and this is now his fourth appearance in English. Think the omniscient detective abilities of Sherlock Holmes mixed with the guile of the Green Hornet, the latter primarily because Fandorin has a Japanese manservant in tow with whom he fights for fun in his hotel room. It seems more like a caricature than a character.
What is good about the book is Akunin’s gradual revelation of all the plot twists. We seem to discover slowly, with Fandorin, various aspects of the plot, with each new fact adding to our store of knowledge, alternately confusing and clarifying the big picture. When the end does come, after 300-plus dense pages, it provides a satisfying resolution and opens the door for more Fandorin adventures.
Admittedly, series detectives in the Holmes mode don’t seem to be published as much now as in the past. And it is perhaps this that has vaulted Akunin to fame and allowed him to gather rave reviews from the likes of Ruth Rendell and The New York Review of Books. If you are a fan of classic detection, or want something a little chewier than your standard airport read, then you might appreciate THE DEATH OF ACHILLES. But while it’s Sherlock Holmes-like, it’s just not quite the real thing. –Mark Rose
[...] Mark Rose kept us on our steady diet of detectives with his take on Boris Akunin’s THE DEATH OF ACHILLES. Despite it being well-received by respectable literary publicaitons, Mark still gets something out of this one, and it’s not just door-stopping power, either. [...]
[...] And when the stories have a certain sheltered atmosphere to the crimes, concentrating more on simple murder or article theft, as opposed to the serial rapes, pedophilia and killings of more contemporary mysteries, we are pleasantly refreshed as we read. Evil rarely, if ever, wins; good, in the persona of our chosen detective, always triumphs. Theory-spouting literary critics may have trouble with this, but avid readers never do. And it’s a mark of how popular the genre and the time is, that we still have Victorian-era detective fiction with us, such as Boris Akunin’s recent THE DEATH OF ACHILLES, or Will Thomas’ THE LIMEHOUSE TEXT. [...]
[...] BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR: • THE DEATH OF ACHILLES by Boris [...]