A desperate young man devises the plan for the perfect crime: the murder of a despicable pawnbroker, a hated old woman whom no one will mourn. After all, he thinks, is it not just for an intelligent person to commit a crime by disregarding the moral law, thereby, in the end, benefiting humanity?
Thus begins one of the most masterful works ever written that is simultaneously a study of human psychology: the mysterious tale of a horrifying crime and a gripping detective thriller with religious, philosophical, and social dimensions.
Raskolnikov, a destitute student living in a garret in the impoverished neighborhoods of St. Petersburg, proceeds with his absurd plan amidst a hell of madness, terror, and paranoia.
Crime and Punishment takes the reader into the darkness of a criminal and destitute mind, presenting the soul of a man who is simultaneously consumed by good and evil, a man who cannot escape his own conscience.
[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]
