Salon

Sergei Kostin wrote his spy novel, "V Parizh na Vykhodniye," or "A Weekend in Paris," some time ago, but only this summer has the book started to make a real impact. After heavy marketing and advertising across all media by the new publishing house Populyarnaya Literatura, the book now adorns the windows of virtually every Moscow bookstore.

Konstantin Rykov, the savvy businessman who runs Poplit, has made such aggressive campaigns a central part of his publishing strategy. The literary component has not been forgotten, either. Kostin's novel was edited by the influential Afisha critic and promising writer Lev Danilkin, while the overall literary steerage at Poplit was recently taken over by Alexander Gavrilov, chief editor of Knizhnoye Obozreniye and one of the most recognizable figures on the Russian book scene.

These combined efforts turned former translator and businessman Kostin into Paco Arraya, the half-Spanish narrator of his books, an illegal Russian (formerly Soviet) secret agent whose cover includes a wildly successful exclusive "intellectual" travel bureau in New York. Interestingly, the writer's name does not even appear on the cover of the book, which instead says "Secret agent Paco Arraya."

"A Weekend in Paris" is a spy novel in its purest form. Paco Arraya arrives in Paris to retrieve a mysterious, tiny container from a German agent who has possibly gone rogue. But he gets distracted when he encounters the man who had ruthlessly killed his wife and two small children two decades earlier. The ensuing tangle of alliances, alibis, double and triple play keeps the reader's attention for the whole length of the book. I am a sucker for professional detail, and I was fascinated by the various means of checking whether your room was searched in your absence or spotting a liar. The action is based in Paris, which the author describes with a topographic confidence not often found in new Russian novels.

Kostin, or rather his character, prides himself on his intellectual prowess, demonstrating knowledge of various subjects from Greek philosophy to Ibsen's plays. It's a nice touch, considering that the book is targeted at a mass audience. Literary style, on the other hand, is virtually non-existent. Then again, that's hardly a bad thing for a spy novel.

One of the interesting marketing moves of Poplit is that every book it publishes is simultaneously uploaded to its Internet site for free distribution. Apparently, it does not curb sales. Popular literature of good quality is a rarity on the Russian book market. It will be interesting to watch the development of Poplit's activity.