Siberian Transfer

Herlin ( Grishin ) here contributes his sixth intelligently written and exhaustively researched suspense novel, taking the reader on a riveting train ride through hell frozen over. In the days following Russia's 1918 October Revolution, as a civil war pits Reds against Whites, wealthy, middle-aged English geologist Oliver Quinn is called away from a duck-hunting holiday in Omsk and sent into the deep winter of the Siberian steppes, and eventually to the old village of Perm, on the edge of the Urals. The British secret service has assigned him to uncover 100 tons of the murdered czar's gold, purportedly hidden in a mine. A sentinel with a ``fanatical determination'' to guard the gold, a mysterious woman with ``incandescent'' red hair, and representatives of various sadistic political factions follow Quinn as he explores inner workings of Perm's Chinatown. Then the infamous Cheka abducts and tortures him. The explosive ending, set deep in an abandoned potassium mine, underscores Herlin's theme--the futility of greed--while haunting descriptions of the frigid Siberian landscape heighten the claustrophobic atmosphere. In spite of an overabundance of characters, Herlin's lean prose keeps the story moving swiftly. (July)