First published 1994
In the gritty underbelly of 19th-century St. Petersburg, Rodion Raskolnikov—a brilliant but impoverished former student—hatches a dangerous intellectual experiment. He murders an elderly pawnbroker, convinced his extraordinary mind places him beyond conventional moral constraints. But theory shatters against brutal reality: Raskolnikov becomes trapped in a psychological maze of guilt, paranoia, and relentless police scrutiny. Detective Porfiry Petrovich suspects him, circling closer with each calculated conversation. As Raskolnikov's mental state fragments, he must confront the horrific consequences of his philosophical hypothesis. One wrong move could unravel everything. At stake: not just his freedom, but the very soul of a man who dared to test the boundaries of human morality.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, mystery, crime, psychological-thriller, 19th-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: detective, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Russia
Period: 19th-Century
136 pages · Paperback · Vintage Classics
Content warnings: mental-illness