Book Review: The Sin Collector (Daria Desombre)

This time of year as other bloggers are rounding up their favourite books of the year and creating their top lists for Christmas gifts, here I am, struggling to catch up on all the books I had read and neglected to review! I blame my wedding and my move.

That is my story. I am sticking to it.

Forever ago, I read The Sin Collector by Daria Desombre, which is the first in a new detective series starring Masha Karavai. A work of Russian noir, I was curious to see what this genre would bring, especially since this is unchartered territory for me.

The novel opened with the introduction of Masha, a brilliant law student, as she investigates a series of recent killings and navigates her way through law enforcement.  I found Masha to be a likeable and relatable lead. I found her narrative to be extremely believable and there were more than a few moments where I found myself chuckling under my breath as she dealt with difficult and seasoned detectives.

The plot itself was pretty stellar. I love when a novel is able to make past and present collide and Desombre does a brilliant job of doing just this. Medieval rituals, modern Moscow and biblical references had me captivated and I loved the premise of the “sins”. I thought this was very different which is always incredibly important to me in a new crime series!