The Secret Liquidator

1954. The small provincial town of Kachinsk is overrun with prisoners released under an amnesty. One day, at the edge of the town, during a police operation, a hardened criminal known as Buba is killed. Breaking out of an ambush, he runs into a knife wielded by someone unknown. Captain of Criminal Investigation Andrei Nekrasov assumes that the mysterious avenger dealt with the recidivist. Soon, three more people die one after another—indeed, the last one is found with clear signs of torture. So who is settling accounts in this way with people who, on the surface, seem to have nothing in common? Nekrasov digs into the victims’ backgrounds and literally freezes with horror at the truth he uncovers…

From city streets to the archives; from the victims’ apartments to forest ambushes. The daily grind of Soviet detectives was made harder by a newly announced amnesty under which thousands of men were released from prison—people who know only how to rob and kill…