Eyes of Death

It’s all because of “The Mansion on Prechistenka.” When Maksim learned that his mother was selling this antique painting, life in the quiet, sleepy Moscow region town of Klushino turned dangerous. Why are dubious, people ready for anything hunting for a canvas by some unknown Alexander Berg? How is an image of an unremarkable house connected to the fate of a missing father—a lover of riddles, ciphers, and hidden meanings? The 19-year-old hero, a journalism faculty student, got interested in the painting only to write a school report—and ended up drawn into a detective story. And then he pulled his friends into it too: the quiet classmate Dima, the energetic and self-confident Anya, and also Kristina, whom he met for the first time but somehow seems like he’s known her forever. They begin their investigation—and quickly understand it will take them very, very far. The first novel in the adventure series “City of the Sun” reveals in Evgeny Rudashevsky a person interested in literally everything in this world: art, nature, student life, the motives behind people’s actions—whatever the young author writes about, it turns out to be both educational and infectious. With each new book, Rudashevsky’s voice sounds more confident, and the sharp suspense is woven even more delicately with psychological depth. “City of the Sun. Eyes of Death” continues the line the writer established in the books “Solongo. The Mystery of the Missing Expedition” and “Insomnia”: an adventure novel with a double bottom, whose main characters are teens who have, for the first time, truly faced the world of adults. That encounter changes them. And the reader can’t tear themselves away from following the heroes.