L’amant de la mort - Boris Akunin

The companion volume to She-Lover of Death - although both novels function completely standalone but for a few minor cross-references - He-Lover of Death focuses on another young innocent individual with a fascination for Death. In this case however, Death is the name by which a beautiful young woman is known, a consort of the Prince, the leader of most notorious and ruthless gang of criminals in the Khritrovka district of Moscow, while the young man in the thrall of this deadly femme fatal is merely a common street thief, Senka Skorik.

Erast Petrovich Fandorin meanwhile is still persona non grata in Moscow, but his investigative abilities are needed more than ever, as there is a brutal murderer operating in the thieves’ quarter and red-light district of Khritrovka, a ruthless killer who leaves no living being at the scene of his crimes, a killer perhaps even more dangerous than the Decorator. Fandorin believes that the killer may be looking for young Senka Skorik, who has somehow stumbled onto a great treasure in the underground caves of the district.

He-Lover of Death takes a long time to get to the main story, spending much of the first half of the novel detailing the colourful background of Senka’s childhood as an orphan and his adventures being initiated into the criminal gangs of Khritrovka, and eventually into the company of Death herself. While it’s frustrating to have to wait so long for Fandorin’s entrance into the storyline, there is a lot of entertainment here, much coming from Massa’s physical and sentimental education of Senka. The subsequent developments of the case then roll smoothly along the rails laid out in the first half, with all the characteristic efficiency of a Fandorin investigation and indeed, an Akunin novel.