PositiveThe Daily BeastThe book, like all Renko mysteries, is fast-paced, well researched, and atmospheric. Smith has been to Russia seven times, the latest trip three years ago, and knows the turf ... particularly relevant, since two of the main characters are based on real people who have made major international headlines.
Marjane Satrapi
PositiveThe Los Angeles Times...Satrapi in her moving, graphic-novel-style memoir, Persepolis, which recounts her life as the daughter of educated, upper-middle-class parents before and after the Iranian revolution of 1979 ... fraught with peril, humor and irony ... The book is also a primer on how the Westernized elements of Iranian society dealt with new restrictions for women, the politicization of the school system, and other aspects of the Islamic regime ... And with its stark, highly stylized black-and-white drawings, it is also a frightening look at what life was like in the early 1980s, when the war with Iraq brought about a period of extreme repression at home.
