"Traps of Power" by Irena Georgieva

Traps of Power (2019 Vesela Lyutskanova) is an enticing title that immediately draws attention to the intrigue of this dynamic and, I would say, real story. The book is a psychological crime thriller in which political and financial benefits are out of control. An absolutely credible account of how far the geopolitical interests of a powerful state can go. It is interesting to see the development of a criminal history against the backdrop of our home country, as we are painfully familiar with the American criminals we have already been overwhelmed with. Changing the atmosphere, in addition to adding an extra personal attitude, makes us feel the events closer and look more clearly at them. This novel would excite the Bulgarian reader much more than a foreign American text. And the fact that the author is a woman is really respectable.

The story unfolds extremely quickly, and within a few days things will take months, which adds tension and heightens interest. The reader is not only a passive observer of the actions, but also a participant in the events. When I read the book, I had the feeling that I was inside the plot and moving along the streets of Sofia with the main character. Abduction of a child, construction of a nuclear power plant, the mysterious murder of a well-known doctor - a good specialist, murders and abductions are all skillfully woven into the plot, and all of this goes quickly before our eyes.

The novel involves the highest figures in the country - the president and the prime minister - who inevitably make the reader resemble celebrities from the contemporary Bulgarian political scene. With an extremely professional sense, investigators are taking action to uncover personal political and financial gains that have been used by foreign mercenaries - professionals in the execution of "wet" orders. The very different position the author gives regarding the figure of the policeman is interesting. Investigating law enforcement officers have virtually no protection for their own lives, and one of them falls victim to their revelations as they reach too high levels of power, and where we know, the laws are completely different, often ruthless. The investigators' actions, however, bring the story to a happy end, though the true perpetrators of the crime remain unpunished.

It is surprisingly true that the superiors' "competencies" are judged and their intervention in the investigation ready to remove an important person from the investigation team, just because someone above is "not nice" to them. With her interesting, typically Bulgarian statement of the author, who in no way tries to imitate Western crime novels, with a sense of humor and self-irony, as well as with her criticism of the Bulgarian reality, Georgieva creates an overall picture of the problems with corruption and break-ins in the state system, constantly holding our attention without engaging us in idle talk. Interestingly, professional problems are solved on a friendly basis rather than institutional ones, which absolutely fits in with the Bulgarian reality.