Volk's Game

"Thrillmaster Ghelfi's deft and controlled writing viscerally describes the snarling Russian underworld. [A] blazing tale." -- Library Journal Review A shadowy figure lopes along the riverbank outside the Kremlin walls. Known to all as Volk, a battle-hardened veteran of Russia's brutal war in Chechnya, Alexei Volkovoy prowls Moscow's grim alleyways, a knife concealed in his prosthetic foot at all times. As both a major player in the black market and a covert agent for the Russian military, Volk serves two masters: Maxim, a psychotic Azeri mafia kingpin with hordes of loyal informers; and a man known only as the General, to whom Volk is mysteriously indebted. By his side is Valya, an exotic beauty charged with protecting her lover from his unsavory associates. Valya is the most dangerous weapon in Volk's arsenal. Together they are commissioned to steal a long-lost da Vinci painting called Leda and the Swan from St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum. Leda's ethereal radiance is undeniably captivating and incalculably dangerous. Volk must choose which powerful man he will betray in order to escape with the painting -- and with his life. With the high-octane rush and vivid intensity of a feature film, Volk's Game delivers at every turn, announcing Alexei Volkovoy as the boldest hero of a new generation. "Brent Ghelfi writes like Dostoevsky's hooligan great-grandson on speed. Volk's Game is hard, fast, and...truly excellent.... Highly recommended." Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author of The Hard Way. Brent Ghelfi has served as a clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals, been a partner in a Phoenix-headquartered law firm, and now owns and operates several businesses. He has traveled extensively throughout Russia and now lives in Phoenix with his wife, a former prosecutor, and their two sons. Volk's Game is his first novel. Winner of nine AudioFile Earphones Awards and a prestigious APA Audie Award, Stephen Hoye has recorded such notable titles as the New York Times bestseller Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The Book of Air and Shadows, and In the Country of Men.