Publisher's Synopsis
The story tells the life of loner and orphan Yevsey Klimkov who after some care by his uncle and aged about 14 finds himself becoming an ineffectual, scared, selfish, insider and unwilling spy for the military police network of informers in a town near Petersburg. We learn how group of self interested young men interact to make money, maintain their position, betray family, have women, kill and cheat to keep their corrupt status quo (exemplified by the Tsar). It also shows how naivety in individuals can be manipulated to achieve amoral behaviour in weak people (both weak in mind and weak in authority). This is 'dark forces' from the inside, being less Tolstoy's tomb War & Peace but more Remarque's All Quiet as it were.
