First published 2003
Rodion Raskolnikov, a brilliant but impoverished student in 19th-century St. Petersburg, nurses a dangerous theory: that extraordinary individuals can transcend moral law. Driven by desperate poverty and intellectual arrogance, he plots the murder of a miserly pawnbroker, believing his superior intellect justifies the crime. After executing his plan, Raskolnikov finds himself trapped in a psychological nightmare of guilt, paranoia, and mounting suspicion from the local police. As the investigation closes in, he becomes entangled with Sonya, a young woman forced into prostitution to support her family, who offers a potential path to redemption. His internal struggle becomes a battle between intellectual rationalization and human conscience.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, crime, psychological-thriller, 19th-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, intellectual-protagonist, psychological-drama
Setting: Russia, St. Petersburg
Period: 19th Century
167 pages · Paperback · Wildside Pr
Content warnings: mental-illness, murder