Black Sun

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What to expect

'Outstanding' SUNDAY TIMES 'Crime Book of the Month'

'A stunning debut thriller . . . ferocious, authentic and utterly terrifying . . . absolutely riveting' DAILY MAIL

1961. Hidden deep within central Soviet Russia is a place that doesn’t appear on any map: a city called Arzamas-16. Here a community of dedicated scientists and technicians is building the most powerful nuclear device the world will ever see – three thousand times more powerful than Hiroshima.

But days before the bomb is to be tested, a young physicist is found dead. His body contains enough radioactive poison to kill thousands. The Arzamas authorities believe it is suicide – they want the corpse disposed of, the incident filed and forgotten. But Moscow is alarmed by what’s going on in this strange, isolated place.

And so KGB major Alexander Vasin is sent to investigate. What he finds in Arzamas is unlike anything he’s experienced before. His wits will be tested against some of the most brilliant minds in the Soviet Union – eccentrics, patriots and dissidents who, because their work is considered to be of such vital national importance, have been granted the freedom to think and act, live and love as they wish. For in Arzamas, nothing can be allowed to get in the way of the project. Not even murder . . .

Intricately researched, cunningly plotted and brilliantly told, Black Sun is a fast-paced and timely thriller set at the height – and in the heart – of Soviet power from the acclaimed author of An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin's Master Agent

Critics Review

A stunning debut thriller . . . ferocious, authentic and utterly terrifying . . . absolutely riveting.
DAILY MAIL
There are some authors who have gone out into the world to observe the good, the bad and the ugly. Owen Matthews is such a novelist. Black Sun is fascinating and has fearsome authenticity.
FREDERICK FORSYTH
An outstanding first novel . . . Matthews writes superbly.
SUNDAY TIMES 'Crime Book of the Month'
One of the best thrillers of recent years . . . a glorious book, a tour-de-force. It drips with authenticity from every page . . . a page-turning, thumping good read.
DAVID YOUNG, bestselling author of Stasi Child
Fact and fiction combine to keep the pages turning in this impressive debut thriller.
THE TIMES 'Best Historical Fiction of the Year'
A stunning debut. Matthews writes enviably well and knows Soviet Russia inside-out. Fantastic.
CHARLES CUMMING
Enthralling . . . Black Sun propels Matthews straight into the first division of thriller writers.
FINANCIAL TIMES
This thrilling and suspenseful and original thriller of murder and power is a compelling voyage into the darkest secret city of the soviet nuclear project by an expert on all of Russian life.
SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
The most exciting thriller or mystery story debut this year . . . a cold war whodunnit . . . an absolutely gripping novel by one who knows Russia well and evokes a horrifyingly convincing Soviet Union.
THE TABLET 'Books of the Year'
Brilliantly plotted and all the more satisfying because it is based on a true story . . . Something else, too: you get it that the Soviet Union in the sixties was a mess with all the wrong people holding the levers of power. And yet, inside the machine, there were humans too: sometimes noble, often seriously brilliant. Reading Black Sun is like stepping into a time machine and setting the dial for Soviet Russia, 1961.
JOHN SWEENEY

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