Windows To The World

PETRIFIED

Barbara Nadel

One steamy hot mid summer morning in the ancient city on the Bosporus once known as Constantinople the crossroads of the world, but now better known as Istanbul the police are called to the scene of the death of any old woman who died days before.  The unusual aspect of the situation was that at the scene was a beautiful young man, also dead who appeared quite alive because he had wide-open violet eyes that were made of glass. The mystery deepened when the police pathologist determined that this body, as well preserved as it was had actually crossed over more than fifty years before.  It appeared also that both of the inhabitants of this apartment came originally from Argentina.

While this puzzle is being unraveled Inspector Cetin Ikmen has been called to the case of the disappearance of young twins who are the offspring of a famous artist, or infamous artist according to some who thing that talent should play some role in the production of art. Many people however thoroughly appreciate the shock and crudity value of the works of the now wealthy Melih Akdeniz and so there are reasons to suspect that the children could have been kidnapped. Ikmen knows that the stories he has been told about the last known activities of the youngsters are just that, stories.

Inspector Mehmet Suleyman is working on a separate case trying to bring down the head of the local Russian mafia Valery Rostov who is trying just as hard to bring him down. Mehmet has involved himself with a junkie prostitute Masha who can get him information on Rostov’s activities especially regarding the movement of drugs. He is a bit attracted to her even though he considers her just a pawn in his hands. What he is really afraid of is that he is the game piece being manipulated in the crime lord’s chess game.

There have always been gangsters in the city and this would not change. But after the Soviet Union disintegrated there seemed to be a flood of totally immoral people into the streets who did not restrict themselves to just one or two illegal businesses. As Suleyman gets close to Rostov he does find one possible weakness, one that is totally incomprehensible to him and one which many of the wealthy Russians share. It is in this that the thread tying all three investigations together, the disappearance of the children, and the beautifully dead Argentine boy.

Barbara Nadel cuts to the heart of what are some of the very different cultural beliefs in people of different religions. Since people do have to live together these issues are understood and tolerated. Every so often however these differences seem indeed bizarre, especially when some things are taken to the extreme. It is a repeat in a way, of the old question. What is art? In PETRIFIED one man’s art is another man’s horror.