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Leviathan, Boris Akunin
Weidenfeld and Nicolson
Reviewed by Rex Trye (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

Russian author Grigory Chkhartishvili, who writes under the pen name of Boris Akunin, has created Erast Fandorin, described as the James Bond of the 19th Century.

It would be reasonable, then, to expect a cracking good mystery in the vein of Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie. I devoured the first chapter, but after that I slowly developed mental indigestion, pecked my way through another two chapters then put the book aside and reached for the imaginary Alka-Seltzer.

The prognosis was that I had an allergic reaction to this book – not to say it is a bad book, but for some reason it just did not agree with me. The style of writing is laborious, and the printer's decision to place any documents or newspaper articles relevant to the plot sideways on the page is annoying.

If you like exotic Russian mysteries and have the constitution for it, this could well be for you, but I think I will pick something a bit lighter for my palate next time.