Crime and Punishment

Raskolnikov, a brilliant ex-student starving in a Saint Petersburg garret, has convinced himself of a theory: that an extraordinary man may step over moral law if his ends are great enough. To prove he is such a man, he plans and commits a murder. The crime takes one chapter. The punishment takes the rest of the book, and it's some of the most gripping psychological suspense ever written: fever, guilt, paranoia, and a slow-motion duel of wits with the genial, terrifying detective Porfiry.

Dostoyevsky writes interiority like a thriller. You're locked inside Raskolnikov's overheated mind as it argues with itself, and every conversation crackles with double meanings. Heard aloud, the interrogation scenes play like courtroom drama.

At roughly 200,300 words, Crime and Punishment runs about 22½ hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

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