Black Snow - Alex Avetis

Russia, early 1990s. The Soviet Union is gone, the old rules have collapsed, and a new world is being built almost overnight.

For Boris, an international business opportunity begins with oil-and quickly becomes something far more dangerous. A Siberian refinery, railroad tank cars bound for Western Europe, a decommissioned submarine, sudden wealth, and the growing influence of organized crime pull him deeper into a world where business and power are impossible to separate.

At first, the possibilities seem limitless. But as the money grows, so does the danger. Partnerships change. Loyalties shift. A friend’s mistakes threaten everything they have built. And when the people controlling the business reach beyond money and toward Boris’s family, he is forced to decide what is truly worth protecting.

Based on true stories and recollections, BLACK SNOW is a novel of business, crime, survival, and moral choice set against the turbulent transformation of Russia in the early 1990s.

It is also the story of one unforgettable image: snow turned black by industrial pollution-and the day, after new equipment was installed at the refinery, when a telephone call brought four simple words: "It’s white, Boris."