Според капитана от милицията Игор Дорошин, за извършените престъпления има възмездие. За да помогне на приятеля си, чийто баща навремето е бил затворен в психиатрия за убийствата на шест деца, Игор се захваща с разследване на делото. Въпреки изтеклите години, той успява крачка по крачка да докаже, че е бил несправедливо обвинен. И започват нови убийства, изнудвания, измами… Участниците в извършените някога престъпления все още са живи – и бизнесменът Аргунов, и висшият чиновник Ситников, и бившият милиционер Забелин, и писателката Истомина… Пружината на капана, наречен живот, се навива, за да се разпусне неумолимо и раздаде всекиму справедливост…
Alexandra Marinina (real name Marina Anatolyevna Alekseyeva) is a Russian writer and crime stories author. For 10 years (1979 - 1989) she worked in milicia (police) as a criminology specialist. She has written over 40 novels, published in over 17 million copies and translated into over 20 languages. Most of her novels have a common central character Anastasia (Nastya) Kamenskaya. Whole series about Anastasia (Nastya) Kamenskaya contains 30 books.
I can't write in Russian, so English will have to do. This is a well-padded detective story that views the Soviet past with today's eyes. For me it certainly felt far too long - I didn't need all these explanations and hesitations that unnecessarily made me think of the target audience: probably younger than me who don't know the Soviet system that well. But I know and remember. I found the long passages of explanation simply irritating. However, on a positive note, I have read hardly anything in Russian but classics and a modern novel proved hugely enjoyable. Marinina has the vocabulary and I found it delightful to read her colloquial Russian. The story is also good, linking the past and the present and tying the ends very neatly. My only reservation is about the structure: the intermittent narrator is just confusing, doesn't add anything. There are altogether a great number of characters. I also think that the book would have been better and tighter about 100 pages shorter.