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The Gentle Axe: A Novel Audiobook
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(3.00) - 319 listener ratings
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Stumbling through Petrovsky Park one cold morning in search of firewood, an elderly woman makes a horrifying discovery. A burly peasant twirls in the wind, hanging from a bowed tree by a rope about his neck, a bloody axe tucked into his belt. Nearby, packed neatly into a suitcase, is the body of a dwarf, a deep axe wound splitting his skull in two.
It does not take long for the noted police investigator Porfiry Petrovich, still drained from his work on the case involving the deranged student Raskolnikov, to suspect that the truth of the matter is more complex that the crime scene might suggest. Why do so many roads lead to the same house of prostitution and the same ring or pornographers? Why do so many powerful interests seem intent on blocking his efforts? His investigation leads him from the squalid tenements, brothels, and drinking dens of the city's Haymarket district to an altogether more genteel stratum of society. As he gets deeper and deeper in, and the connections between the two spheres begin to multiply, both his anger and his terror mount.
Atmospheric and tense from its dramatic opening to its shocking climax, The Gentle Axe is a spellbinding historical crime novel, a book that explores the darkest places of the human heart with tremendous energy, empathy, and wit. As lucky as St. Petersburg residents are to have Porfiry Petrovich in public service, we are equally fortunate to have R.N. Morris on hand to chronicle his most challenging case to date.
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"R.N. Morris picks up the career of Porfiry Petrovich, the man who tormented, and then drew a confession from, the Piter student Raskolnikov in Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment'. Taking on such a colossus of literature as Dostoevsky - willfully walking into his shadow - is the sort of mad act one would expect from one of his characters; Morris has succeeded. The descriptions with which the author builds 'The Gentle Axe', similar enough to Dostoevsky's to retain continuity, are deliberately distinctive enough that imitation is clearly not what Morris had in mind. Likewise, the characters, carrying Dostoevsky's compound of the defiant hopelessness inflicted by poverty while still being individual to Morris, who fleshes out the lives of the former's peripheral names while successfully introducing new faces, worthy of such a story. Porfiry Petrovich himself is alive with all of the foibles - the detective's games, the self-doubt - while all around him carries sufficient freshness to pair this book with the original while not anchoring itself to 'Crime...'.Fans of the minutiae of Dostoevsky's work may pick Morris' work apart, but I think they are missing the point. This book is not a continuation of 'Crime and Punishment', but an individual attempt to branch away from Raskolnikov's life, remain in 1860s St Petersburg, and run with a new concept loosely linked to previous work. See it this way and Morris has created a very good story from a thin sliver of history. In short, murder has been committed in a Russia grappling with a stuttering industrialisation and the Emancipation of the Serfs, and nobody can conceive of a man better qualified to entertain with its investigation than Porfiry Petrovich."
— Mike (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“A satisfyingly grisly yarn, mawkish and macabre—‘CSI: St. Petersburg.’ "
— New York Times Book Review -
A fabulously dark and descriptive story…. [Vance's] clear, warm voice delivers Russian words and phrases with a lucid ingenuity.
— AudioGeist -
“A fabulously dark and descriptive story…. [Vance’s] clear, warm voice delivers Russian words and phrases with a lucid ingenuity.”
— AudioGeist
The Gentle Axe Listener Reviews
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" I had a hard time getting through this book, but in the end, I actually really enjoyed the story. The actual writing isn't bad, but it's laborious to extract the minute details. Story was good though, and very Russian (at least in my mind). "
— Tyler, 2/20/2014 -
" Not quite a sequel to Crime and Punishment, but this tale features Raskolnikov's nemesis Porfiry Petrovich about a year and a half after their run in. This isn't Dostoevsky, but I enjoyed the effort. "
— Ace, 2/20/2014 -
" This is one of the most riveting murder mystries i have ever read it's like csi: st. petersburg "
— Arthur, 2/19/2014 -
" This is a neat form of detective book, take a very famous literary investigator, one created by a great Russian novelist and turn him into a character with a world of his own. R.N. Morris has taken Porfiry Petrovich of Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky and turned him into a dark Russian investigating magistrate. It was a brilliant move and is the start of a series. It will be interesting to see how this evolves. "
— Peter, 2/16/2014 -
" Not a bad first novel although the killer was to obvious, I prefer a mystery that keeps me guessing as to who the bad guy is. "
— Karen, 2/11/2014 -
" It was a challenge to keep track of all the Russian names :-) "
— Sue, 1/15/2014 -
" Reading and enjoying the prose and the mystery related to Crime and Punishment. It's a literary thriller that makes you believe taht Dostoevsky could have come up with another case for the magistrate to solve. "
— Avital, 1/11/2014 -
" This was a good story, but the Russian names were hard to pronounce and similar to one another so it was hard to remember who was who "
— Jessica, 1/9/2014 -
" Dostoyevsky's renvisioned as a murder mystery. Great fun! "
— Julie, 12/31/2013 -
" Very interesting premise. While I am not very knowledgeable about Russian literature I do think Morris captured the spirit of the times and St. Petersburg and I did enjoy Porfiry Petrovich, from Dostoyevski's Crime and Punishment, as the detective. "
— Donna, 12/2/2013 -
" Excellent mystery. A compelling and dark novel. The story picks up on the life of Police investigator, Porfiry Petrovich (from Crime & Punishment) as he tracks down the murderer of a peasant and a dwarf. "
— Bookworm, 10/14/2013 -
" Less Dostoyevsky, more 1866 CSI: St. Petersburg. "
— David, 8/26/2013 -
" I really liked this one. St. Petersburg, crime, 1867, what could be better? "
— Sophiene, 7/11/2013 -
" Meh. I don't think I like non-Russian Russian-esque literature. Entertaining enough, but the multiple names are not my friends. No wonder I never finished War and Peace. "
— Casey, 7/3/2013 -
" Surprise ending. All of the Russian names confused me. Some sense of the desperation in Russia in the 1800s with people starving to death. This is a murder mystery with many twists. "
— Joann, 6/2/2013 -
" Probably wouldn't read the next in the series. "
— Kaye, 5/12/2013 -
" Really didn't do much for me. I read it just after Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk, and the plot and the style were both a big step down. "
— Patrick, 1/13/2012 -
" .. not done yet <br/> <br/>didnt finish it :( sorry! didnt like it very much): "
— Tahlia, 2/22/2011 -
" Probably wouldn't read the next in the series. "
— Kaye, 12/17/2010 -
" Not a bad first novel although the killer was to obvious, I prefer a mystery that keeps me guessing as to who the bad guy is. "
— Karen, 8/14/2010 -
" It was really hard for me to get into this book, so I didn't finish it. May decide to try it again. "
— Dolldiva, 7/22/2010 -
" I thought it was interesting but not really my cup of Russian tea. "
— Mary, 6/22/2010 -
" Surprise ending. All of the Russian names confused me. Some sense of the desperation in Russia in the 1800s with people starving to death. This is a murder mystery with many twists. "
— Joann, 6/6/2010 -
" A balanced, coherent and intricately woven plot... i like it (x 3) :P "
— Zeus_sooraz, 5/26/2010 -
" Very interesting premise. While I am not very knowledgeable about Russian literature I do think Morris captured the spirit of the times and St. Petersburg and I did enjoy Porfiry Petrovich, from Dostoyevski's Crime and Punishment, as the detective. <br/> "
— Donna, 4/8/2010 -
" I had a hard time getting through this book, but in the end, I actually really enjoyed the story. The actual writing isn't bad, but it's laborious to extract the minute details. Story was good though, and very Russian (at least in my mind). "
— Tyler, 12/4/2009 -
" Well, I'll never get those hours back... look elsewhere for a good read. "
— Whitney, 8/9/2008
About R. N. Morris
Roger N. Morris sold his first short
story to a teenage girls’ magazine while still a student at Cambridge
University, where he read classics. Making his living as a freelance
copywriter, he has continued to write, and occasionally publish, fiction. One
of his stories, “The Devil’s Drum,” was turned into a one-act opera, which was
performed at the Purcell Room in London’s South Bank. His book A Vengeful Longing was shortlisted for
the 2008 CWA Gold Dagger Prize for Best Crime Novel and highly commended by
the CWA Ellis Peters Award for Best Historical Crime Novel 2008. He lives in
North London with his wife and children.
About Simon Vance
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.