Beautiful Evil Winter, a Russian Action Thriller, earns a list of accolades including an Eric Hoffer Award for “…writing of significant merit” and a Readers’ Favorite International Book Award. The novel takes place in the 1990s after the fall of the USSR, a time reminiscent of the unforgiving, gunslinging days of the frontier west. When mild-mannered Ethan and fiery Sophia board a plane bound for Russia, they hope to secure their son’s safe passage back to the US. An innocent encounter with the Mafia de-rails their plans. Suddenly, they become a target of the iron-fisted Mafioso that wields total control of Russian adoptions. What can make matters worse? An inexperienced untrained adoption coordinator who must complete the legal process and insure a safe return to the US. How much hardship can a couple endure when faced with do or die events? When hope fails and suffering prevails, what’s left?
Review
I liked the overall concept of the story. I've always wondered about the adoption process of other countries, and the fact that this one was about Russia certainly piqued my interest. There were some good parts and bad parts.
I'll start with the parts I disliked. There were some grammatical errors I encountered while reading that made me have to stop and reread a passage to understand what was going on.
I also couldn't connect very much with some of the characters. I tried very hard to like them, but some of them, like Ethan, exasperated me with their passive nature. He improved later on, but at the beginning he irritated me.
I do have some good parts I want to congratulate the author on. There is one scene in this book that absolutely disgusted me. It literally makes me queasy everytime I read it because it is so graphic and such a scary situation is being described. Kudos to the author for making me want to hit those men in the face with a shovel.
There is one character that I did connect with in the story. Her name is Natasha. Something about the way she acts and certain situations intrigued me as to what was her story. Why is she the way she is? What is going on in her home life? I wish we had gotten a bit more of her story, as it really did pique my interest.
I have to say Sophia, the main character of this story, was a strong female character, all things considered. She always came out fighting when the situation called for it, which is a great quality to have if you are trying to protect yourself and your loved ones. I admired her quick thinking throughout the book, especially with her cleverness in turning everyday household items into weapons.
All things considered, I did like the book, but I didn't love it. It gets 3 Platypires