So it’s a bit of a surprise that my first Strugatsky novel turned out to be a detective story, free – mostly – of politicking, which features a collection of oddballs and a super-sentient dog. ( Roadside Picnic, filmed as Stalker is a supreme bummer, for starters.)

And any exploration of that area is likely to involve the brothers Strugatsky: writers known for some excellently grim work with a coating of political commentary. I’d been meaning to read a bit more Soviet-era fiction, particularly science fiction. It was delightful clever.The Dead Mountaineer’s Inn by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. Though, the main character’s wife comes across as very sympathetic and clearly loved, which was nice.Īnyway, it’s only 150 pages and I just quite like it as a story. All the main characters were of course, very brainy men, with most references to women being either about their appearance or something to do with the men. Minor gripe number two is that there is also a smattering of casual sexism. This is one of my gripes in that it all added a patina of melodrama over the whole proceedings, but it didn’t detract too much from the overall story in the end. At the beginning it felt a bit over the top, everyone is always swearing, sweating, drinking, shouting or otherwise expressing themselves in a way that would have been VERY NOISY. Like a comedy of errors almost, with him swearing and sweating through unseasonable heat in the summer.

In between though, all the interactions and stuff happening to the main character are pretty funny. I also like the mathematician’s dogged determination to continue to fight against the overwhelming pressure being applied to them. I mean, when you think about it, it’s as daft as any of the other theories, but I like the attempt at fitting it in the natural order of the universe. The ultimate hypothesis put forward by one of the characters (the mathematician) is rather satisfying, in a very rationalist way. Is it a super advanced civilisation, is it coincidence, is it something else? Eventually they all get together and are trying to thrash out what could be going on. Essentially, there are a bunch of scientists who are all either being bribed or threatened, in very different ways, to stop the work they’re doing. There are several minor gripes that I’ll get to, but overall, it was a pretty fun read. It’s written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and was published in 1977. I had that luxurious experience of going to an ACTUAL bookshop to buy books, rather than clicking buy online, and decided to give this little book a go.

Strugatsky goodreads