Book review: The Senility Of Vladimir P

NIKOLAI SHEREMETEV has never quite got the hang of how things work in Russia. 

Michael Honig

Atlantic Books, €16.45; ebook, €11.37

During his army service, he was unable to see that his captain was hiring his troops out on the side to build apartment blocks.

Working as a nurse, he refused bribes offered by relatives to give better care to patients, even seeing his own wife die because he would not bribe doctors himself.

He is now faced with looking after former president Vladimir P, a senile old man who spends his days talking to imagined former minions and judo kicking the head of a Chechen fighter he once had shot by firing squad.

When his nephew needs a massive bribe to get out of jail, Sheremetev has to balance his conscience against the urge do what Vladimir P had done best during his years in office and line his own pockets.

The Senility Of Vladimir P is former doctor Michael Honig’s second novel and an exciting tale of how even the best of men can face temptation.