Last Dance At The Discotheque For Deviants by Paul David Gould

Moscow, 1993. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union have brought unimaginable change to Russia. With this change come new freedoms: freedom to travel abroad and to befriend Westerners, freedom to make money, and even the freedom for an underground gay scene to take root.

Encouraged by the new climate of openness, twenty-one-year-old Kostya ventures out of the closet and resolves to pursue his dreams: to work in the theatre and to find love as his idol Tchaikovsky never could. Those dreams, however, lead to tragedy – not only for Kostya, but for his mother and for the two young men he loves, as all three face up to the ways they have betrayed him.

About the author

Paul David Gould grew up on a Huddersfield council estate and studied Russian at the University of Birmingham. His experiences of work, life and love in Russia have inspired Last Dance at the Discotheque for Deviants, his first novel. He works as a sub- editor at the Financial Times.

Paul worked as a journalist in Russia in the early nineties, and his experiences from that time have informed his debut novel, while he still occasionally writes about Russia for the Financial Times.

Last Dance At The Discotheque For Deviants is one of the first titles in Unbound's new imprint: Unbound Firsts - for debut writers of colour. Gould said:

‘I’m not only thrilled to be getting published by Unbound Firsts, I’m also honoured to be one of this new imprint’s inaugural writers at a time when we so need to champion diversity. My novel is set in Russia in the 1990s, a more hopeful time for peace and friendly relations with the West, I’m horrified to see those hopes trampled on by Putin’s unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine.’

Review

Kostya a young man in post-Soviet Russia has died very suddenly and mysteriously. His two closest friends, Jamie and Dima are determined to find out what happened. Jamie is a UK journalist working in Moscow for a lowly newspaper, while Dima is a Latvian living in Moscow who was Kostya’s most recent boyfriend. It was Jamie who opened up Kostya’s eyes on his sexuality and in the modern post-Soviet culture of openness and tolerance Kostya feel free enough to try and live life this way. When investigating the death Jamie and Dima show us through a world of underground gay discos, disapproval from the majority of the population and how those close to him have betrayed him.

This is a powerful and impactful book that broke my heart. It is much more than a ‘murder mystery’, it is an analysis of a subculture in post-Soviet Russia, the crisis of identity that followed the collapse of the USSR and how people coped in this brand-new society. How some embraced capitalism, glasnost and perestroika but how others yearned for Soviet life and what they had known. But ultimately it is how the marginalised struggle to survive in hostile surroundings. How violence creates fear, how society places pressure to ‘be normal’ and the devastating solutions people look to for help.

I studied Russian history at university and this stunning book shows an author that is at one with their topic. It is a real and powerfully authentic look at society post-1991, full of small details that make it allows the reader to form clear and vivid pictures.

‘Last Dance at the Discotheque for Deviants’ has truly affected me. Sometimes there are books which come along that you know will stay with you for a very long time and this is one that will resonate with me for quite a while.

This is a perfect book for both Pride Month and Crime Reading Month! Let me know if you pick it up!