Vostok

There hasnt been a winter like this in years. The streets of Poznań Poland become covered with snow. The river Warta freezes over.Terrorists attack a city but it barely registers in the lives of thirtyish pub-goers. Weronika is in love with her best friend Wu who has just told her about his new boyfriend Staszek. Olka a few years older than the rest is haunted by a past trauma. Zuza is the secretive type - you never know whats on her mind. Theres also Kuba a playboy who decides to start a relationship but the moment things get serious he panics.Someone breaks into a military museum and steals a 19th-century war scythe. A few nights later the first victim ends up disembowelled under a bridge. Its Ania Kubas love interest. She was partying at Wus place mere hours before she died.Soon more murders take place followed by more terrorist attacks. A man with an Antarctica-shaped tattoo watches the friends every step. Does he have anything to do with the murders? Or the attacks? Are the two connected?Cracks start to show on the realistic façade when Kuba mentions a place called Vostok City. Its not long before the façade crumbles and it becomes clear theres much more to Poznań than meets the eye.On the surface Vostok is a murder story with a literary bent. Dig deeper and it will reveal itself as science fiction that only pretends to play by the rules of realism.