The Infant and the Devil

The Infant and the Devil (Russian: Младенец и чёрт, translit. Mladenets i chort) is a novel by Boris Akunin, the first part of the first book on the adventures of Russian and German spies during the First World War.^[1] In this book the reader first gets to know the two main characters of this literary series - the Russian student Aleksei Romanov and the German super-spy Josef von Theofels. Theofels is a pun on the German word Teufel which translates directly to devil.

Plot

... June of the year 1914. Fatal shots have discharged in Sarajevo, and Europe is rapidly moving towards a big war. German intelligence has achieved incredible success. One of the minor officials in the Guards Corps of the Russian Army made copies of the main secret document of the forthcoming war - the mobilization plan. The main spy of Germany in Russia - Captain Joseph (Sepp) von Theofels participates in the operation of transferring the document. During the meeting with the traitor, Sepp is ambushed, however thanks to the accidental intervention of a young man, student Aleksei Parisovich Romanov, Theofels manages to escape. Russian counterintelligence begins the hunt for Sepp but he always manages to slip away with his faithful servant and assistant Timo.

In counterintelligence Romanov is interrogated by Captain Duke Kozlovsky, who explains the full tragic scope of the student's actions. Realizing his guilt, albeit accidental, Romanov is full of desire to atone for it. And soon a possibility emerges. Russian counterintelligence manages to learn that a copy of the plan is hidden in the premises of the sports club of the Guards Corps. Soon there will be a football match between the Guards and German football players. Assuming that during the match the spy will try to get the invaluable plan from the cache, Kozlovsky wants to organize an ambush. In this Aleksei Romanov should help, who disguises himself as a football player in the Russian Guards team, and who must teach his unwitting boss, Duke Kozlovsky, to become an excellent goalkeeper.

...The day of the match comes. The event is very significant and among the audience is Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich himself. Traps of Russian counterintelligence are set, but Captain Theofels is ready to do anything to complete again an impossible task...

Interesting Facts

• The text mentions the "defeat of Russian footballers in Stockholm" which is a historical fact. On June 17, 1914 German football club Holstein Kiel won the Moscow team with a "dry" score of 8-0.

References