Some nerve. British author R.N. Morris gets credit for gall: In “The Gentle Axe” (2007), a thriller recently released by Penguin in paperback, he channels Fydor Dostoevsky to come up with a sequel to “Crime and Punishment” — and more than gets away with it. This novel gives a vivid portrait of Russia in the 1860s.
A detective named Porfiry — you remember him from the original — tracks a mysterious killer:
“Inside the yardkeeper’s shed it was as if the objects of his life were shaping themselves around the fact of his death, around his physical absence. There was an old paint-spattered wooden chair, polished by many sittings. It was crammed in next to a folding card table, the baize threadbare and stained. The samovar on it seemed to possess an air of mournful disappointment. Chipped cups milled around it without purpose. The sawdust had settled on the floor, around an assortment of bricks and logs. The bottom of a barrel was propped up against one of the shed’s sides. Life continued only in the cobwebs that grew heedless over the tools and tins of his occupation.”
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IN THE WEB EDITION
Check out our new listing of 2008 Tribune book reviews at chicagotribune.com/books.
Read new reviews of these books at the same Web site:
“The Lazarus Project,” by Aleksandar Hemon
“The Plague of Doves,” by Louise Erdrich
More Top Picks Best Blue Light Glasses For College Students
“Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches With Teach for America,” by Donna Foote
“Ridiculous/Hilarious/Terrible/Cool: A Year in an American High School,” by Elisha Cooper
“Mudbound,” by Hillary Jordan
Plus roundups of poetry and romance books, thrillers and mysteries.