ARKADY RENKO IS BACK . . . Confined to a desk job by his superiors to keep him out of the way, Arkady Renko is more disillusioned with the general state of Russia than ever. But, despite everything, he has hope.

People want change, and politician Leonid Lebedev could be the man to do it. Tasked by a father with finding his missing daughter, a staunch Lebedev supporter and member of the Forum, Renko is thrown into the heart of a dangerous conspiracy when another member of the Forum is found murdered - Alex, a close friend of his own son. The night before his murder, Alex sent Arkady a cryptic message, simply containing three pictures of Russian writers.

The link between the pictures is there, if only he could see it. But Arkady has just been diagnosed with Parkinson's and the disease is taking its toll. This time, he must fight more than the impenetrable Russian regime to get answers - he will also need to fight himself.