The apparent suicide of Krystyna Krol, who overdosed on drugs, propels Owadβs middling mystery set in 1992 postcommunist Poland. Krystynaβs estranged brother, Julian, a former political activist whoβs now a reporter in Warsaw, senses that something is amiss: his university-educated sister, skilled in foreign languages, abhorred drugs and had a promising future. As Kroll puts his investigative instincts into play and interviews the overworked medical examiner, the caustic police lieutenant in charge of the case, and Krystynaβs cynical roommates, a disturbing picture emerges of his sister, whose private life had troubling connections to the corrupt bureaucracy that flourished under communism. Owad (Brotherβs Keeper) presents an unremittingly bleak view of a dystopian society whose drunken citizens live in cities plagued with rotting infrastructures and greedy officials.
© 2003-2026