First published 1992
In an unnamed post-Soviet country, Stoyo Petkanov stands trial for his decades of totalitarian rule. The new government's prosecutor general believes he has an open-and-shut case, expecting to swiftly condemn the fallen leader using the very legal machinery Petkanov once controlled. But this is no simple prosecution. Petkanov is a cunning survivor, prepared to turn the courtroom into his final battlefield. As the trial unfolds, he begins to dismantle the prosecution's case with unexpected skill, revealing layers of political complexity that unsettle everyone present. Each testimony becomes a strategic move, each argument a potential weapon. The prosecutor soon realizes this trial is not about condemning the past, but negotiating the fragile boundaries between justice and revenge.
Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, political-thriller
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Eastern Europe
Period: Post-Soviet
138 pages · Hardcover · Alfred A. Knopf