Black Sun by Owen Matthews
It is the dawn of the 1960s. Stalin has been dead for eight years but his ghost casts a long shadow. In a place called Arzamas-16 - one of the most secret locations in the USSR, a place that doesn't appear on any map - a community of brilliant scientists, technicians and engineers have been tasked with creating the most powerful nuclear bomb the world has ever seen - a device three thousand times more powerful than Hiroshima. But one scientist has died an excruciating, grotesque death by ingesting a massive dose of irradiated Thalium. The Arzamas authorities believe it's suicide, want the body disposed of and the case closed, but someone in Moscow is concerned about what's going on in this strange, isolated and fiercely independent place. And so Major Alexander Vasin, a mostly good KGB officer in the department of 'Special Investigations', is sent across the Soviet Union in order to discover the truth. What he finds in Arzamas is a group of eccentrics, patriots and dissidents who - because their work is considered of such vital importance - have, unlike their fellow Soviet citizens, the freedom to think and act, live and love as they wish. Some of them, it seems, even believe they can get away with murder . . .
A stunning debut thriller. . ferocious, authentic and utterly terrifying . . . absolutely riveting. -- Geoffrey Wansell * DAILY MAIL *
There are some authors who have gone out into the world to observe the good, the bad and the ugly. Owen Matthews is such a novelist. Black Sun is fascinating and has fearsome authenticity. -- FREDERICK FORSYTH
An outstanding first novel . . . Matthews writes superbly. * SUNDAY TIMES 'Crime Book of the Month' *
One of the best thrillers of recent years . . . a glorious book, a tour-de-force. It drips with authenticity from every page . . . a page-turning, thumping good read. -- DAVID YOUNG, bestselling author of Stasi Child
Fact and fiction combine to keep the pages turning in this impressive debut thriller. -- Antonia Senior * THE TIMES 'Best Historical Fiction of the Year' *
There are some authors who have gone out into the world to observe the good, the bad and the ugly. Owen Matthews is such a novelist. Black Sun is fascinating and has fearsome authenticity. -- FREDERICK FORSYTH
An outstanding first novel . . . Matthews writes superbly. * SUNDAY TIMES 'Crime Book of the Month' *
One of the best thrillers of recent years . . . a glorious book, a tour-de-force. It drips with authenticity from every page . . . a page-turning, thumping good read. -- DAVID YOUNG, bestselling author of Stasi Child
Fact and fiction combine to keep the pages turning in this impressive debut thriller. -- Antonia Senior * THE TIMES 'Best Historical Fiction of the Year' *
Russian expert OWEN MATTHEWS is the author of two highly praised works of non-fiction, Stalin's Children and An Impeccable Spy, and two acclaimed historical thrillers, Black Sun and Red Traitor. As a war correspondent, he covered conflicts in Bosnia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq and Ukraine, and for ten years he was was Newsweek's Moscow bureau chief. He divides his time between Rome and Moscow.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781787631830 |
| ISBN 10 | 1787631834 |
| Title | Black Sun |
| Author | Owen Matthews |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Transworld Publishers Ltd |
| Year published | 2019-10-03 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |