The Boy from Reactor 4

“A top-notch, fast-moving thriller with gripping authenticity from Stelmach’s knowledge of politics, history, and crime in Eastern Europe and America.”

— Neil McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of Toys, and Dead Silver

“Stelmach brilliantly pairs breakneck pacing with heart-of-gold insights into regions as beautiful as they are troubled. The Boy From Reactor 4 is phenomenal.”

— Dan Mayland, author of The Colonel’s Mistake and The Leveling

This debut thriller takes the reader from New York to Ukraine. Nadia Tesler is an immigrant’s daughter, and while she is fluent in Russian, she is not close to her mother and lost her father as a young teenager. All she remembers of him is a perpetually angry man, and she knows nothing of her family background. A stranger contacts her, saying he knew her father well, and they arrange a meeting, but he is shot dead on the street in front of her, whispering a cryptic message as he dies. She quickly realizes her own life is in danger and sets out on a quest to decipher the message, learn some of her family history, and keep one jump ahead of whoever is after her. It isn’t until she visits her ancestral homeland that she really starts deciphering her family story. The key turns out to be Adam, a young hockey star who grew up skating at Chernobyl and now suffers from radiation syndrome; he has a secret that many want—and will kill to get. This is a fast ride with lots of thrills and will appeal to adrenaline junkies.

— Stacy Alesi