Totally Forgot: "City of Thieves" by David Benioff

Totally Forgot: City of Thieves by David Benioff, 2008, Overdrive download.

Audiobook I completely forgot to put down notes for. I listened to this in June or July. A good book. Spoilers await.


Lev is a teenager in wartime Leningrad. During the winter he and his friends see a German pilot parachute down. They check out the body and Russian Army troops show up. The kids scram because people are regularly shot for any kind of looting or pilfering. Lev is caught.

Lev ends up being told by a Russian Colonel of Intelligence that Lev can save his life if Lev can find a dozen eggs for the upcoming wedding of the Colonel's daughter. Lev is paired up with the slightly older Kolya. Kolya considers himself a man of the world. Kolya claims he is: a great poet and writer, a lady killer, and knowledgeable about most everything in the world.

Lev and Kolya head out into Leningrad with a few hundred Rubles and hoping to score eggs on the black market. Armed with a military pass signed by the widely feared Intelligence Colonel they avoid some trouble but strike out on getting eggs.

Lev and Kolya stay with Kolya's friends. Kolya has loud sex. Lev feels nervous about his virginity. Lev and Kolya decide to use the pass to leave Leningrad and travel into the German occupied areas where a nearby town is supposed to have an egg farm.

Things happen. Lev and Kolya end up in a cabin where the young women are housed as sex slaves for the dirty, rotting, stinking, no good, filthy nazis. Lev and Kolya ended up with a partisan unit. Lev goes lovey-dovey for a young woman in the partisans. There is violence. There is cold weather. There is capture by and escape from the dirty, rotting, stinking, no good, filthy nazis.

Lev and Kolya get some eggs and head back to Leningrad. Kolya is shot and bleeds to death. Lev drops off the eggs to discover the Colonel already has already collected several dozen. Lev meets back up with partisan girl and lives happily ever after.

Comments:
1. The novel was pretty good and I enjoyed the narration. I presume there will be nothing new from Benioff for a while because he works for Game of Thrones.