The Wizard of the Kremlin (Hardback)

A great book, casting light on the creatures that crawl and slither behind the Kremlin's walls, on the mineral hardness of Putin, on the chaos engine that is his way of hurting us. Read this book and you will understand the Russian mind-fuck. Read it - John Sweeney

A captivating novel that sails close, perhaps too close, to reality - Financial Times, Books of the Year

A novel exploring the inner workings of [Putin's] government that has captivated France...has become a popular guide for understanding [his] motives - New York Times

A highly economical, well documented pageturner, describing twenty years in the corridors of Russian power, with a simple, seductive style and unmatched realism - Frédéric Beigbeder, Le Figaro

An acute and timely dissection of Russian power, told through the eyes of a shadowy political adviser to Putin - Financial Times

A journey into the dark heart of power - El País

You cannot put this book down... Fascinating and suffocating. A clinical analysis of the art of authoritarian rule - France Inter

An absolutely extraordinary novel... You feel you're sitting on a sofa next to Putin, that you are inside his head - Patricia Martin, Le Masque et la Plume

Of course this novel sheds a revealing light on current geopolitical events. But it will outlive them thanks to its unwavering lucidity and sparkling style - Le Monde des Livres

A staggering account of the mental makeup and aggressive logic of Vladimir Putin... A story of great literary and historical force that you must read if you want to understand what, from here, seems incomprehensible - Libération

A must-read for anyone wondering what Russian President Vladimir Putin is up to and what the Russian people have had to go through during his tenure...this powerful book...is a page turner - Foreign Policy

Brilliantly tells the story of one of Putin's closest advisors... Unputdownable - Lire magazine littéraire

Empoli is a skilled storyteller and with such rich material to hand it is unsurprising that [The Wizard of the Kremlin] is compelling and convincing, fully deserving of its bestseller status...Its literary achievement elevates the novel above a reductive political analysis of the workings of the Kremlin, bringing it at times closer to Dostoevsky than an academic article or an op-ed - New Statesman

A factually-based and brilliantly narrated pageturner - Die Zeit

Propelled by its searing topicality, this modern, visionary book nevertheless has the timeless elegance of a classic - Les Echos

Smart, sharp, and timelier than ever