title: The Gentle Axe: A Novel (A Porfiry Petrovich Novel)
author:  R. N. Morris 
description: "A satisfyingly grisly yarn, mawkish and macabre. CSI: St. Petersburg"<br /> -<i>The New York Times Book Review</i> <br /><br /> "<i>The Gentle Axe</i> is a deftly plotted, enjoyable literary thriller."<br /> -<i>The Washington Post</i> <br /><br /> "A smart, hypnotizing tale of crime and duplicity. . . . Genuinely pleasurable."<br /> -<i>The New York Sun</i> <br /><br /> "Lush, and exceptionally compelling, but take your time-R. N. Morris's <i>The Gentle Axe</i> has a vast depth of Russian soul: mysterious, compassionate, and utterly irresistible."<br /> -Alan Furst, author of <i>The Foreign Correspondent</i> <br /><br /> "The anti-Sherlock Holmes."<br /> -<i>The Philadelphia Inquirer</i>
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  INTO THE LIGHT
  
  
  
  
  
  Book One of the AXE DRUID Series
  
  
  Written by Christopher Johns
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  © 2019 Mountaindale Press. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
  reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as
  permitted by US copyright law.
  
  
  
  
  
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are
  the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
  resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events,
  or locales is entirely coincidental.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](../images/00001.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  Table of Contents
  
  
  [Dedication](part0000_split_003.html#_Toc535704806)
  
  
  [Acknowledgments](part0000_split_004.html#_Toc535704807)
  
  
  [Chapter One](part0000_split_005.html#_Toc535704808)
  
  
  [Chapter Two](part0000_split_006.html#_Toc535704809)
  
  
  [Chapter Three](part0000_s