Crime and Punishment

A brilliant, unsettling psychological thriller about a destitute St. Petersburg student who convinced himself that murder could be justified for a greater purpose, only to discover that guilt is far more destructive than poverty. Rodion Raskolnikov formulates a theory that extraordinary men can transcend conventional morality, then tests it by killing a despised pawnbroker. But no intellectual framework can shield him from the consequences of what he's done. As paranoia consumes him and detective Porfiry closes in, Raskolnikov must confront the unbearable weight of his own conscience. Into his dissolution comes Sonia, a young woman sold into prostitution to save her family, whose impossible faith and suffering awaken something in him he thought was dead. This is Dostoevsky's masterpiece: a terrifying examination of what happens when reason divorces itself from morality, and a harrowing journey toward redemption through absolute moral ruin.