When You Are Gone

Fear. Hope. Love. Anger. Thrill. Madness. This thriller will take you to a place where you can smell and hear a European neighborhood—where you feel the cold sea wind and the burning warmth of absinthe…

Valentina Nazarova—who is she?

• An author creating a special bond between the reader and the character, based on sensual imagery.

• A rock fan who transferred her passion onto the pages of books—music plays from everywhere.

• An IT specialist who uncovers the underside of social media, IT technologies, and internet start-ups.

• Winner of the “Manuscript of the Year – 2016” award and nominee of the Russian national “National Bestseller – 2016” award.

• One of the few Russian authors popular in Europe—her books have been translated into 8 foreign languages.

London. Snow is falling again. As it did four years ago, when a terrible tragedy took everything Serge lived for. Sour coffee, food from a roadside stall, a hated job, a lonely house—an endless chew of nothing, long deprived of shape and taste, pathetic attempts to maintain the illusion of life. A computer game and the voice of a person hiding behind the nickname “Tron”—the voice of his only friend, the last chance not to dissolve into emptiness. But one day he disappears without a trace. Strange.

Following a virtual trail, Serge arrives at the northern shore of France, battered by all winds. A cold Atlantic wind. A gloomy two-story house. Screeching stairs and the darkness of a cluttered room. And Tron. Dead.

And then… An attempt to find the truth, the thrill of the chase, oppressive anxiety and constant tension—love driven to despair—and a shocking, unpredictable ending.