Pioneers Never Die

A THRILLER IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF A PIONEER CAMP — IN THE SPIRIT OF “DEATH IN A PIONEER NECKTIE.”
A FAST-PACED DETECTIVE STORY ABOUT MILITARY SECRETS IS INTERWOVEN WITH HAUNTING, BONE-CHILLING CAMP SCARE STORIES.
Summer 1980.
In the pioneer camp “Olimpiyets,” “nightmares” happen again and again after dark: terrifying stories told before lights-out, as if they come to life. One moment a headless nurse wanders the corridors, the next black curtains appear in the windows — a bad omen of an impending death, and in the darkness the guitar strums of a dead Gypsy camp ring out…

But the camp itself — and what it has been hiding since the war — is even more dangerous. When three pioneers set out on a hike to a Red Army soldier’s grave to pay their respects, they start to imagine they’re being watched from the bushes. Very soon it becomes clear: it isn’t imagination — someone really is hunting them. And it turns out that for several nights in a row, someone has been digging up the shore of the camp lake, as if searching for a hidden treasure.

The closer the truth gets, the thinner the line between playing at scare stories and a real nightmare: step by step, the pioneers come closer to the terrible secret of the past — and to a threat that could cost them their lives.

“A story that seizes the imagination at once: adrenaline, intense emotions, and the muffled echo of a great war long gone, yet not letting go. Young heroes have to overcome themselves and their own fears in order to stand up to evil when the dark past breaks into their lives and catches up to the present. This is a book about friendship, courage, and responsibility toward those who will come after us.” — Elvira Smelik and Ekaterina Gorbunova, authors of the bestseller “Death in a Pioneer NeckTIE”