“A Cathedral Without Crosses” is one of Vladimir Shitov’s most famous bestsellers—a book that sold over two million copies, a true example of a Russian criminal novel. You can’t tear yourself away from this book, literally until the very last word.
In the novel “A Cathedral Without Crosses,” the criminal life of the main character is described—Goncharov-Shmakov V.S., an especially dangerous recidivist, a “vor v zakone” (thief-in-law), a bear-fancier, an authority in the criminal world both in Russia and in the USA, a millionaire with extensive connections with rich people in Western Europe and America.