cover image Chernobyl Murders

Chernobyl Murders

Michael Beres, . . Medallion, $25.95 (492pp) ISBN 978-1-933836-29-4

Beres's new thriller toys with the intriguing if implausible notion that the horrific meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, near Kiev, was no accident.In 1986, months before the meltdown, Mihaly Horvath, a senior engineer at the power plant, suspects that the facility is being intentionally overextended as part of a government experiment. When catastrophe strikes, Mihaly's detective brother, Lazlo, finds himself pursued by a psychotic and sadistic KGB major, Grigor Komarov, who hopes to establish that foreign elements, possibly linked to the CIA, were responsible. While the writing quality is a step up from Beres's last thriller, Final Stroke , many readers are likely to find neither the mystery of who caused the disaster nor the political intrigue sufficiently engaging. (June)