BLOOD AND RUBLES

There are no pyrotechnics in a Mark Hammer reading. He doesn't astonish with his characterizations or his dramatic flourishes. But his best work is suffused with such intelligence and restraint that readers find themselves spellbound. In this series about Russian Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov and his idiosyncratic squad of detectives, Hammer reads with an air of weary resignation wholly suited to the bleakness of Russia at the end of the century. This latest edition finds the infinitely wise Rostnikov operating in a post-communist Russia that is every bit as unforgiving and corrupt as its previous incarnations. Greed, Rostnikov finds, does not differentiate among political regimes. M.O. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB 97]