The World According to Novikoff

Plot summary

The novel covers the time period from nineties of the last century to zero years of the present century. We can see a wide panorama of life in Russia. At the same time The World According to Novikoff is a thriller novel which focuses on a plot to use nuclear materials by Islamic terrorists in Moscow.

The main character, Victor Novikoff is a painter. He works in “The New literary newspaper” in Moscow; later he works as an editor in the Russian Agency "Interteleks", which is easily guessed "Interfax". Working in "Interteleks", Novikoff turns on a mission on the basis of the Russian Navy in Baltiysk and, by chance, even goes at the ship from Baltiysk to Severomorsk around Europe.

The last place of Victor Novikoff’ work is Trell publisher, which very similar to famous publishing Astrel, AST group from Moscow. He works here as a literary editor and he receives a manuscript in which the plot of Islamic terrorist acts describes. He must decide what to do with it. From him it depends largely: whether this manuscript will be accepted for publication as a literary story. Recovering this manuscript about the Chechen war and Islamic terrorists, the plot follows as he tries to get it published.

Literary features

The World According to Novikoff is a novel with a non-linear storyline. However, not only characters but also the angle of view combines all four parts of this novel: two points of view — male and female — on the same vital conflict, moral problems, erotic transactions. Also there are frankly farce episodes in the book. In fact, the life of an ordinary man in modern Russia describes in the novel. At the same time, this is an example of how policies affect the life of an ordinary citizen, but it is an example of how history is made up of ant efforts of millions of people.

From an other side this novel is a mixt of thriller and fantasy. At the cover of the book we can read: "All the characters of this book, including famous politicians, are a figment of the imagination of the author. If you find some convergence with the Russian reality, then so much the worse for last".

“After reading the book The World According to Novikoff by Andrei Gusev, I'm quite certain that it simply must be done bedside book each President to know how not to do a history, how not to lead the country. Kudos to Herostratus, destroyed one of the seven wonders of the world — the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, this is not the kind of Fame, to which we should aspire”. — Irina Gorunova

Publication history

The first part of the novel was published in 1996 and titled "The Russian story". The second and third parts – "Portraits of his Dreams" and "Lord of the Bees" – were written in 2003 year. The fourth principal part is "One Hundred Years from the Day of Birth" (Russian: Сто лет со дня рождения) – was written in 2006. For a long time the novel was not able to publish because publishing houses in Moscow refused to publish for fear of backlash and possible sanctions by the representatives of the highest Russian State power, depicted in the novel. Because of political reasons this novel was removed from some Russian literary portals.

The thriller novel The World According to Novikoff has not been published in English yet.