Books

Finding Katarina M.

 

Natalie March is a successful surgeon enjoying a busy life in Washington DC.  As her demanding career has left little time for friends or romance, her deepest relationship is with her mother, Vera March, a Russian immigrant and MS patient confined to a rehab.  Vera is haunted by the fact that her Ukrainian parents were sent to the gulag, Stalin’s notorious network of labor camps, when she was just a baby.  All her life she has presumed that they perished there along with millions of other Russian citizens.  Natalie would do anything to heal her mother’s psychic pain: it’s the one wound that she, a doctor, cannot mend.

When a young Russian dancer named Saldana Tarasova comes to Natalie’s office claiming to be her cousin, and offering details that only a family member would know, Natalie must face a surprising truth: her grandmother, Katarina Melnikova, is still very much alive.  Natalie is thrilled to think that her Russian family is reaching out and that Vera may be able to reunite with her mother after so many years.  In fact, Saldana has a darker motive for making contact.  Suggesting that her family is in grave danger from Putin’s government, she pleads for Natalie’s help to defect.  Unwilling to break the law, Natalie puts her off.  Then the unthinkable happens, and Natalie is drawn into a web of dangerous family secrets that will ultimately pit her against both the Russian FSB and certain members of the CIA.

How far will Natalie go to find Katarina M. and satisfy her mother’s deepest wish?  How much will she risk to protect her Russian family—and her own country—from a deadly international threat?  

Masterfully plotted and beautifully written, FINDING KATARINA M. takes the reader on an extraordinary journey across Siberia—to reindeer herding camps, Russian prisons, Sakha villages, and parties with endless vodka toasts—while it explores what it means to be loyal to one’s family, one’s country, and ultimately to oneself.

 

 What people are saying about Finding Katarina M.

  • "Gripping…fascinating historical details…Natalie’s tense and illuminating journey will enthrall readers."

    —Publishers Weekly

  • "Insistent in its twisting narrative, the novel takes a turn into something darker, stranger, and much more terrifying as it unfolds. Natalie remains a compelling companion for the startling journey Elo has generated."

    —Seattle Review of Books

  • "Finding Katarina M. is an amazing accomplishment for a writer who’s already shown that she has serious chops. Elo takes the reader on a trip to present-day Russia that’s breathtaking in its scope and ambition. That she pulls everything off with an undeniable air of authenticity makes the entire novel a real tour de force. The story is tightly woven, the characters are complex and believable, and the setting is nothing short of a miracle in print. I highly recommend it."

    —Elizabeth George, #1 New York Times bestselling author of SOMETHING TO HIDE

  • "Finding Katarina M. is a gem–a thriller that explores deeper questions of family ties and the long reach of history. Elo takes us on a spellbinding journey through modern Siberia, a land most Americans will never see, in a story that grips from beginning to end."

    —Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of THE OLIGARCH’S DAUGHTER

  • "Gripping, powerful and chillingly realistic, this gorgeously written thriller spins the relentless and passionate saga of a high-stakes search for family–a search that lures the determined Natalie March to the frightening ends of the earth. With its perfectly realized setting, emotional depth and bitter political realities, this proves Elisabeth Elo is a major talent."

    —Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of ONE WRONG WORD

  • "Elisabeth Elo’s fine new novel begins compellingly as a thriller but moves seamlessly into an intriguing journey of survival and self-discovery. I love a story whose twists are truly unpredictable, and Elo delivers in spades."

    —William Kent Kreuger, New York Times bestselling author of SPIRIT CROSSING

  • "This isn’t just a book–it’s an adventure."

    —Betty Taylor, Reading Is My Passion

North of Boston

Meet Pirio Kasparov—a Boston-bred, tough-talking girl with an acerbic wit and a moral compass that points due north.

When the lobster boat Pirio is on is rammed by a freighter and sinks within minutes, she is left to drown in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. Against all odds, she manages to survive four hours before being rescued by the Coast Guard. But the boat’s owner, Ned, is not so lucky.

The tragedy leaves Pirio deeply unnerved.  Compelled to look after Noah, the son of the late Ned and her alcoholic friend, Thomasina, Pirio can’t shake the lurking suspicion that the boat’s sinking was no accident. It’s a suspicion seconded by her deeply cynical Russian-immigrant father, who, haunted by a secret past, tells her that nothing is ever what it seems. As Pirio searches for answers in the seedy bar rooms and on the fishing docks of Boston, she is drawn into relationships with an unstable former boyfriend and an enigmatic insurance investigator who vie with each other to gain her trust. Then the United States Navy, hearing of her record-breaking cold water survival, pressures her to become a test subject in their research on human endurance in extreme conditions.

With her friends – including ten-year-old Noah – in increasing danger, Pirio is forced to take a high-risk gamble to expose a lethal plot. Her journey takes her from the lavish salons of a super yacht, where a deadly betrayal awaits her, to a remote Inuit settlement, and finally to a narrow inlet in the Canadian arctic where she faces the ultimate challenge: to trust herself.

Rich with atmospheric chills, North of Boston is a gripping literary thriller starring an extraordinary heroine. Elisabeth Elo is a big new discovery in the world of female suspense—and Pirio Kasparov is darkly edgy, compellingly damaged, and impossible to forget.

 What people are saying about North of Boston

  • "Elo…could well become a major force in the thriller world."

    —Daily Mail

  • “Elo brilliantly crafts her mystery.”

    —The Buffalo News

  • “It’s hard to say which is the bigger star of the novel: Pirio or the places she goes. Elo evokes city bars, harbor politics and ocean voyages with equal ease. When Pirio boards a ship headed for the Canadian Arctic, we see the rocky coast and feel the sea spray right along with her. The later scenes in the whaling grounds of Cumberland Sound will both shock and inspire readers with their blend of realism and majesty.”

    –BookPage.com

  • “Like its protagonist, North of Boston is many things — a murder mystery, an environmental thriller, and a domestic drama.”

    –Boston Globe

  • “Pirio Kasparov is one of the best protagonists I’ve read in years, tough, cynical, wry and compelling. Her determination to discover the truth behind her friend’s murder will earn your admiration, while her growing desire to be a better daughter, friend, and person will win your heart.”

    —Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author of Still See You Everywhere

  • “Set on the gritty Boston waterfront, Elisabeth Elo’s novel starts off as a murder mystery and slowly builds into something larger and more disturbing. North of Boston is a gripping and unorthodox thriller, packed with intriguing characters and unexpected twists.”

    —Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of The Leftovers

  • “As someone who has spent her life on the sea, I can tell you that Elisabeth Elo knows her stuff.”

    —Linda Greenlaw, New York Times bestselling author of The Hungry Ocean

  • “I’ve never read anything quite like it before!”

    –So Obsessed With

 North of Boston Editions