City of Thieves

by David Benioff

City of Thieves recounts Lev Beniov’s experience of the siege of Leningrad. The 17-year-old protagonist is caught outside his residence building after curfew and is labelled a looter. For this crime, as for many others in the wartime city, the usual punishment is death.

Lev is thrown into prison for the night where he meets Kolya, an arrogant, educated, and smooth-talking deserter who becomes his friend over the following days. Though the two expect to be executed, they are spared by a senior NKVD officer who takes their ration cards in exchange for a curfew pass, a few days of liberty, and a dangerous mission.

The two scramble to find what the officer wants before their deadline, leading them into the company of black marketeers, cannibals, partisans, and officers of the Einsatzgruppen.

The novel begins many years in the future, in America, where Lev’s grandson asks him about his wartime experiences. So the reader knows the story must end well for the main character, still, the story is gripping as the brutalities of the winter city and wartime Soviet Union are unveiled.

Concentrating on only a few pivotal characters Benioff makes each one of them memorable. He describes dark scenes, truly dark, things that could only happen in wartime, but there is humor and levity as well. And the book is short, it isn’t a huge commitment of time or effort.

I kept coming back to the audiobook it was so good, even when I had other things to do. Maybe because there are so few characters, City of Thieves makes an excellent audiobook.

For fiction enthusiasts, I highly recommend this book. I’m a tough audience, but I give it five stars out of five. It’s probably the only book I’ll rate so highly this year.

There are quite a few adult scenes, bad language, and violence so if you’re easily triggered, (t)read cautiously.

Did you read City of Thieves? If so, what did you think? Please leave a comment below.