Aleksey Kohnowski

The narrator of "Roksana."

I'm pretty sure it's pronounced Koh-nov-ski. But if not, I wouldn't be the first to mispronounce it.

Just in case the unusual name did not tip you off, Aleksey is foreign. Specifically, he moved from BFE, Russia, to BFE, Ohio, when he was four. (He is eighteen now, so he doesn't have much of a Russian accent.)

Aleksey has a large, loving family. He is the only boy, other than his nephew Philip. He was many many sisters, including thirteen-year-olds Irina (who was recently adopted) and Alisa, whose weird obsession with an old doll is the center of the whole novel. His father has Parkinson's disease, which sucks a big one. Aleksey himself has depression and cuts himself.

Aleksey is friendly around his best friend, idol, and partner-in-ghost-hunting-crime, Ryan, but shy and neurotic around everyone else. He sucks at talking to girls. He's a tech boy and a photographer. So basically, except for the tech thing, he's a male version of me.