“Fiend: A Novel of Menace,” by Alex Tarnavsky. Independently published, 2023. 653 pp. ISBN: 9798386260750 (paperback), $24.95. The book is also available as a Kindle edition on Amazon.
Why do we read? Sometimes it is for information, sometimes for pleasure. But usually we want to read something that both teaches and entertains. Both fiction and non-fiction can serve these twin purposes. Among the genres that educate as well as divert is the historical novel. Perhaps the earliest example is Sir Walter Scott’s “Waverly” (1814); probably the most famous is Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” (1865-1869). A historical novel is a story that takes place in real historical circumstances of time, place and events. While the story itself is fictional, the work tells us something about the period and the society in which it takes place.
Alex Tarnavsky’s “Fiend” falls within this definition. “This book,” he states in a note on the reverse of the title page, “is a work of fiction. Although some of the figures who appear, do so under their own names, they are used fictitiously. The interpretation of historical events and incidents, locales and all character dialog, except where established as public record, are solely the product of the author’s imagination.”
This means that, besides the fictional heroes, Maxym and Roxana, various historical figures appear, among them Mikhail Tukhachevsky; Leon Trotsky; those nonagenarian prodigies of political longevity, Vyacheslav Molotov (1890-1986) and Lazar Kaganovich (1893-1991); secret police chiefs Dzerzhinsky, Yagoda, Yezhov, and Beria; and of course the titular character, Joseph Stalin. Much of what is said about these persons is a matter of historical record; some is the stuff of speculation; most is the work of the writer’s creative imagination. Thus, for example, we know when and where Lenin died; his poisoning by Stalin, however, is an unproven thesis, while Mr. Tarnavsky creates a story about how it could have been carried out. The author also invents ingenious narratives of the deaths of Stalin’s wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva (1932), Sergei Kirov (1934) and Stalin himself (1953).
The inquisitive reader who wants to disentangle these threads of fact and fiction should consult the historical literature. With regard to Stalin, there is plenty: over a dozen English-language biographies have appeared since Trotsky’s “Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence” (1946) (unfinished because the subject had his biographer assassinated) and eyewitness Bertram D. Wolfe’s account in “Three Who Made a Revolution” (1948). Among the latest in a series of Russian-language works published since the 1980s is Boris Sokolov’s popular biography “Stalin” (2023). Judging from the level of historical detail in “Fiend,” Mr. Tarnavsky has researched his subject thoroughly. In addition, his training as an electrical engineer enables him to describe such factual complexities as the operation of the Kremlin’s telephone system.
Part romance, part political thriller, Mr. Tarnavsky’s novel follows the adventures of Maxym and Roxana during Stalin’s lifetime. Throughout the book, readers feel the ominous dread conveyed by the subtitle, “A Novel of Menace.” It is a fear that haunted the lives of millions during the Stalin era. Mr. Tarnavsky skillfully weaves in various sub-plots, some taking place in Finland, Spain and Mexico. With brief chapters switching back and forth among these narrative strands, he keeps the reader engaged throughout the 653 pages of the novel. One repeatedly wonders how the protagonists will survive their next predicament. Mr. Tarnavsky is a skillful storyteller and a master of suspense.
Particularly striking is the depiction of Stalin’s cunning manipulation of his entourage – a seemingly demonic ability aptly conveyed by the book’s title. The author also slips in a good deal of history with which the average English-language reader may not be familiar, such as the Holodomor. For well-informed readers, knowing that some of the atrocities depicted are technically fiction is little consolation, for they know that the realities were no less dreadful.
The book does have its weaknesses. Some are the trivial though annoying flaws typical of self-published works, such as grammar, spelling and usage – the sorts of mistakes that automatic editing programs do not catch. Some readers might find the tone occasionally too didactic, heavy with moralizing pathos. Secondary characters are two-dimensional: lecherous, sadistic NKVD officials, noble and idealistic Ukrainians. Some nuance would have been more interesting as well as more realistic. Stalin’s fellow-Georgian Lavrentiy Beria, for example, may have been a psychopath, but his views on the non-Russian nationalities merit attention. Some scenes are banal and predictable. There is, to be sure, enough sex and violence to hold the average reader’s attention. One can be grateful that the descriptions are too conventional to traumatize more delicate sensibilities.
Despite its modest literary merits, “Fiend” grips the reader. It could compete with popular thrillers. It would not be out of place, for example, at airport bookshops – for this cinderblock of a novel could keep a traveler engrossed from New York to Melbourne and back.
At the same time, reading “Fiend” during a Russian-Ukrainian war prompts several questions. How firm is the continuity from the Tsarist Third Section and Okhranka to the Soviet secret police organs and today’s Federal Security Service? What is the relationship between criminality and dictatorship? Can a psychopath mesmerize a nation? Can a leader and his people submit entirely to evil?
If the purpose of the novel is to entertain the reader while conveying important truths, “Fiend” succeeds admirably. By telling us what might have happened, it conveys the essence of what really did happen. And in doing so, it prompts us to consider more deeply what is happening now.