A Snake on a Red Frying Pan

1977. In Soviet special services, an active spy network recruited by the West is unmasked. The name of the main “mole” is identified — KGB colonel Nikita Zubov, who has managed to deal the country serious damage. The task of stopping the traitor is assigned to KGB major Oleg Verest. He knows Zubov personally and is certain he understands his way of operating, but reality turns out to be far more complicated. The attempt to arrest him turns into a drawn-out standoff: Zubov covers his tracks, eliminates witnesses and accomplices, and then even changes his appearance using surgery. However, that only drives Verest further — he intends to reach the enemy even in the remotest depths of the Soviet Union…

The enemy is calculating and cold-blooded. His weapons are logic, endurance, and an impeccable plan. He is certain he has worked out the outcome of the confrontation. But he fails to take into account the main thing: he is facing super-professionals — Soviet counterintelligence officers, people of risk, honor, and iron will.

“In Valeriy Sharaпов’s novels, time is felt so vividly that it seems: one more step — and you’re already among the characters of these books — unflappable investigators, crafty criminals, frightened citizens. And desperate operatives will take you for one of their own and immediately pull you into another dangerous operation…” — Sergey ZVEReV, author of action novels