The Case of the General’s Thumb

By the author of Death and the Penguin, this 1999 novel opens in Kiev with the puzzling death of a distinguished general whose body is sent skywards on an advertising balloon. A KGB officer and a Ukrainian army official find their separate investigations converging, with many obstacles along the way including a larger than life hitman, bombs under furniture, a hearse, a deaf and dumb blonde, a tortoise, a parrot and a backfiring automatic.

“A black comedy of rare distinction” – Spectator

“Kurkov flips from mock tragey to comedy and back again, planting the ominous and the absurd neatly among deadpan descriptions of a daily life in denial.” – The Times

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