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The Ice Curtain

Name: The Ice Curtain
Author: Robin A. White
ISBN: 9780385333160

by Robin A. White

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Overview

"The Iron Curtain is down, and Russia has become a smuggler's paradise. Hidden behind a curtain of ice in Siberia's far north is the richest diamond mine on earth, a motherlode of treasure so vast it could break the back of the world's oldest - and wealthiest - cartel. A cartel that will buy the enemies it can ... and eliminate the ones it cannot." "Against this turbulent backdrop, Gregori Nowek searches for the truth behind the murder of his best friend - shot in cold blood on a dark Moscow street. In a violent land where a twenty-dollar bill can buy or end a life, half a billion dollars in rough diamonds have vanished, lost between Siberia's mines and Moscow's vaults. The brutal murder of his best friend tests everything Nowek believes as a Russian, and as a man." "Nowek's search will take him back to the place he knows best ... Siberia, where the reason for his friend's murder is buried inside a gem-filled chasm beneath eternal ice and snow. It is a secret guarded by the vastness of Siberia, the diamond cartel, and a beautiful young woman who, like the dazzling gems, is trapped in a grim city walled off from the world behind a curtain of ice." Dangerously stubborn and committed to the truth, Nowek risks his life to vindicate a friend, to secure Russia's future, and to bring an astounding act of deception into the light of day.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

This bone-chilling thriller set in the waning days of Yeltsin's tenure pits a low-ranking Siberian politico and a Moscow-based FSB (the new KGB) major against the world's most powerful diamond cartel in the best Russian shocker since Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park. When diamond miners in the frozen Siberian town of Mirny are killed for protesting months of unpaid wages, Russian Federation delegate Arkady Volsky and his assistant Gregori Nowek travel to Moscow to confront Yevgeny Petrov, director of the State Diamond Committee, and to collect the miners' money. But Petrov doesn't care about the miners he's sparring with the London-based diamond cartel, threatening to flood the market if they don't meet his price. Volsky's interference gets him shot and Nowak knicked in a hit and run; Volsky gasps "go to the horizon" and expires, and the militia arrests Nowek for his boss's murder. Enter FSB major Izrail Levin, who soon learns from Petrov that the diamonds needed for collateral on an IMF loan review are missing. Levin clears Nowek, recruits him to replace Volsky and sends him back to Mirny to track the diamonds. Danger abounds in the icebound town. Nowek's local ally is killed and Nowek himself is trapped deep in the diamond mines as the hero tries to get to the bottom of a vast conspiracy, clear Volsky's name and find his killer. White (Siberian Light) keeps the reader on a diamond-sharp edge while lacing his fast-paced prose with black humor, engrossing gem lore and plenty of spilled blood. Surprising plot twists, stoic Russian survivors and a dash of romance add to the heady mix, as do the hints of another Nowek tale to come. (Feb. 5) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

White's second thriller (after Siberian Light) is another vivid depiction of the corruption at the heart of the new capitalist Russia. Geologist-by-training Gregori Nowek travels with his boss from Siberia to Moscow, where they are investigating the loss of a half-billion dollars in rough gemstones and asking for the money owed to the miners who work in the harsh taiga. When his boss is murdered, Nowek is appointed his successor and sets out to track down those responsible. At the same time, he has only two weeks to recover the lost gemstones, which are needed as collateral for a loan from the International Monetary Fund. Failure means the collapse of Russia's economy. Nowek's investigation carries him to Irkutsk and the mining town of Mirny in Siberia and into a world of corruption, theft, and murder. As brilliantly evocative as White's previous books, this thriller will be compared to Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park for its atmospheric portrayal of Moscow's environs and the Siberian outback. Equally impressive is the author's knowledge of the diamond trade and mining. Highly recommended for all public libraries. Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

White (Siberian Light, 1997) reincarnates hero Gregori Nowek for another investigation, this time of murder and four million carats of missing Siberian diamonds.