HOTEL MELIKOV

In this spirited farce, a fishmonger who somehow became Minister of Security in a fictitious central European country is caught between two sides of a civil war.

The book is a sequel to Citizen Orlov (2023), in which an unfortunate turn of events got Orlov, the fishmonger, implicated in the assassination of the king. Now desperate to return to his former life, Orlov is about to resign from the security post when revolutionaries stage a violent uprising following the coronation ceremony for the new sovereign. The intelligence minister, seated in a car next to Orlov, is shot in the head. The monarch is forced into hiding in a mountaintop convent. In dizzying fashion, the hapless Orlov is pressured first by the People’s Party—its deputy leader is a former colleague of his in the fish business—and then by royalists to spy on the other side. Back and forth he goes, double-talking his way out of trouble. As part of a group of government officials who disguise themselves in nun’s habits to make it safely to the convent, he is exposed to shocking realities. The actual Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow are not what they seem (the guns are a dead giveaway) and all of the fake nuns don’t seem to be on the same page with each other. The king, who was outfitted as “Sister Karla” to evade detection, is befuddled by the situation. “So, the prisoners are dressed as nuns and the nuns are dressed as prisoners?” he asks. Seeming pumped with helium, ever light on its feet, the novel keeps springing satirical delights and hilariously absurd scenes. It’s a flawlessly entertaining read that raises expectations for the third installment in the series.

A very funny satire about men and nuns at war.