VODKA

A taut and shocking story of vengeance‚ bloodshed and love‚ set over 100 days of bitter Russian winterfrom the UK bestselling author of Messiah. Moscow‚ December 1991. Chaos reigns after the fall of communism. Muscovites face queues and empty shelves; now they must cope with a lethal power vacuum − and a war for control of the city between brutal mafiya gangs. So when a child′s body is found beneath the ice of the Moscow River it attracts little attention to begin with. Then a second body is found. And a third. At the heart of the gathering storm is Red October‚ Russia′s most famous vodka distillery. Alice Liddell‚ an American banker‚ has come to Moscow to oversee its privatisation − an unpopular move. Alice wants to get going‚ but faced with the charismatic‚ ruthless Lev − distiller director and head of one of the warring mafia gangs − a very difficult job is starting to look impossible. Lev′s arch−enemy has vowed revenge on him and the bizarre child killings might be part of this. The last thing he needs is a determined young woman in his criminal empire. But will Lev and Alice be enemies or allies? And when the storm has passed‚ who will be left standing?