That’s the name of Martin Cruz Smith’s latest Arkady Renko novel, which I happen to have just started. It involves Moscow Metro riders seeing what seems to be a ghost of Josef Stalin on a subway platform. Is this mass hysteria brought on by the Russian penchant for a strong leader in times of turmoil, or is it some kind of techno prank? I don’t know. As I said, I’ve just begun reading the book.
Strangely, though, I ran across this story just now about Russian history books suddenly being kinder to the old mass murderer. A Russian friend of mine, who lives in Kostroma, told me that when Stalin died in 1953 when he was 10 years old, he thought it was the end of the world, so strong was the hold Papa Joe had on the country. Looks like some want to return to those times. Scary.
