A Plague on Both Your Houses: A Novel in the Shadow of the Russian Mafia

Timur Mansurov sits atop the throne of the Russian Mafia. In December 1991, the Soviet Union lay in shambles. Boris Yeltsin is in, and Gorbachev is out. The country is up for grabs as Communism has been displaced by Capitalism. Timur’s son, Roman, has arrived in Moscow a changed man in a changed world. Roman knows his father’s world but spurns the possibility of becoming immersed in the murderous world of organized crime.

Roman is led by his wandering heart, which leads him to Yulia Caplan, the daughter of Timur’s chief rival Naum Caplan. The rival clans are competing and scheming for business with dominance as their goal. Roman and Yulia are caught in the middle of a bloody war where the bodies drop and the cops are content to wait it out until the bitter end.

Robert Littell (The Company) is a virtuoso in creating intrigue-laden fiction. A Plague on Both Your Houses may not focus on the wilderness of mirrors that Littell’s characters typically reside in but this doesn’t detract from the spellbinding novel that Littell delivers. A semi-modern take on the star-crossed lovers tales Romeo and Juliet, the dramatic thriller pulls no punches in its impact.