The Siberia Job by Josh Haven

Published by Mysterious Press on June 6, 2023

The Siberia Job is less a crime novel than the story of business transactions undertaken in difficult circumstances. Because the story takes place in the Eastern European version of the Wild West — the transition from the fallen Soviet Union to unregulated capitalist markets — crime becomes integral to the plot.

While a work of fiction, the novel is based on real events. The story is wildly improbable but a forward suggests that the novel’s most improbable scenes are the closest to the truth. The forward also suggests that the rise of Russian oligarchs is associated with the “murder-y” methods that were used to acquire ownership of newly privatized companies.

When former Soviet companies privatized, their countries’ citizens were given vouchers that could be traded for shares of companies that were formerly owned by the government. Most people were happy to sell their vouchers for relatively small amounts of cash because cash is what they needed. When the day came to register the vouchers in meetings that were operated by the IMF, voucher owners received stock in the company in proportion to the percentage of total vouchers they registered.

One of the two protagonists, Petr Kovac, happens to meet John Mills in a London bar. Both men are young. Both have acquired some wealth and are looking to acquire more. Petr is a Czech national who bought up vouchers for Czech companies, used them to obtain stock, then sold the stock at a massive profit. John has experience with investment funds and is looking to start his own. He partners with Petr in a plan to purchase vouchers in Russia, using funds supplied by his investor contacts who buy into his new investment partnership.

The most profitable company they can acquire is a massive producer of oil and gas. The executives who run the company plan to acquire it for themselves. While those executives are trying to hold registration meetings on short notice in remote locations to deprive people of the chance to register their vouchers, John and Petr acquire inside information about the meetings. They travel to the area where the first meeting will be held, buy up all the vouchers they can find for American cash, and register the most vouchers at that meeting, much to the dismay of the company representatives who expected to be the only people registering vouchers.

Several more registration meetings are scheduled, sending John and Petr all around Russia in their quest to gather vouchers. They travel by train, bus, bush plane, and car — buying cars when necessary.  They rescue a cigarette girl who is about to be raped on a train ride, then hire her as a translator.

The three voucher buyers need to split up when three registration meetings are scheduled in distant locations on the same day. One of the men takes a dog sled to the most remote place where vouchers are being registered. The varied scenes of travel though the vast country are thoroughly engaging. This is as much a story of travel adventure as it is of crime and business.

The novel takes its subject seriously, but the story doesn’t lack humor. My favorite moment occurs when, to move a tank that is blocking the road to a small Siberian town where John needs to attend a voucher auction, John bribes the tank driver by arranging a lunch date in LA between the soldier and his favorite Playboy model.

The intriguing setup establishes the likable young characters and sets their adventure in motion. Neither Petr nor John are action heroes, although they find themselves being shot at and chased from time to time. They use their wits, contacts, and negotiating skills to avoid being murdered. The story’s roots in reality add intrigue, but Josh Haven scores a winner by telling the story with a light touch that suits the “truth is stranger than fiction” tone of the novel.

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