First published 1866
Raskolnikov grips an axe and asks himself if he will really smash the old pawnbroker's skull. The desperate student needs money, but he tells himself the murder will benefit humanity by removing a worthless woman from the world. He commits the crime, killing the vile moneylender in her apartment. Blood sticks to his hands and clothes as he steals from her rooms. The murder becomes a cat and mouse game with the police, but the real battle takes place inside Raskolnikov's mind. His guilt grows heavier each day as he tries to convince himself he had the right to kill. The young man believed he could commit the perfect crime and walk away unchanged. Instead, he discovers that taking a life destroys something inside the killer too.
Genres: fiction, 20th-century, crime, 19th-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, guilt, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Russia
Period: 19th Century
702 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics
Content warnings: graphic-violence, murder, violence