"Dark Forces" by Elena Topilskaya, summary Automatic translate

"Dark Forces" is a 2005 detective novel, the eleventh book in the series about St. Petersburg investigator Maria Shvetsova. Topilskaya herself spent many years as an investigator in the St. Petersburg prosecutor’s office, and this professional experience is evident in every detail: procedural subtleties, interdepartmental relationships, and the daily routine of investigative work are conveyed with documentary accuracy. The book is part of the "Secrets of the Investigation" series. A television series of the same name, "Secrets of the Investigation," was based on Topilskaya’s novels, and she also wrote the scripts for several episodes.

A call from the darkness

The novel opens with a rare stroke of luck for the investigator: Maria Sergeyevna Shvetsova, for once, goes home at exactly six o’clock in the evening — and takes her colleague Lyosha Gorchakov with her, defying the demands of the new district prosecutor, who insists on employees being present at work around the clock. At home, in blissful silence, Masha enjoys her solitude until the first bell rings.

An unfamiliar baritone introduces himself as Pasha, says he fell in love with her from a newspaper profile, and, upon learning that Masha is married and morally unsuitable, calmly declares he must destroy her — and himself, too: "burn in flames" or "blow up." Masha doesn’t hang up, but methodically stalls for time, simultaneously dialing Gorchakov from her cell phone so he can hear the conversation through speakerphone. While Pasha climbs the stairs, Gorchakov manages to alert the district criminal investigation department, the Organized Crime Control Department, and even the FSB’s anti-terrorist brigade. They arrest him right at the apartment door.

Bureaucracy versus common sense

The celebration doesn’t last long. The new district prosecutor, arriving at the police station, methodically explains that Pasha Ivanov’s actions are not criminal: no weapons were found on him, the threat was "demonstrative," and Masha herself invited him. Gorchakov explodes, but the prosecutor is adamant. Pasha, who won’t even get fifteen days’ imprisonment, must be released — which particularly depresses Masha: she understands perfectly well that, given this outcome, nothing is stopping him from showing up again, this time with TNT.

While the prosecutor plans to personally interrogate the detainee and thereby destroy all the work of operative Sintsov, an expert on serial killers, the detective and Gorchakov subtly sabotage this plan. Sintsov — a quiet, patient man who can spend hours "cultivating" detainees without resorting to force — manages to obtain crucial information: a Bible with Kabbalistic annotations and a piece of paper with the addresses of several women were found on Pasha.

A series of disappearances

The addresses in Pasha’s address book turn out to be no coincidence: all the women listed disappeared about six months ago, and none were officially wanted. Masha’s address is among them. It turns out the missing women were somehow connected to a sectarian organization. Gorchakov and the detectives recognize Masha with horror in one of the photographs found during the investigation.

The investigation leads to Erinberg, a businessman with a shady past. Attempts to identify him through databases yield nothing: he doesn’t appear anywhere under that name. Expert Panov helps solve the mystery: there once was a certain Shatalov, sentenced in 1979 to fifteen years — a man with a withered leg, a limp, and good manners. He served his sentence, changed his name to Erinberg, and wiped his criminal record clean from databases.

Radio transmission and sound examination

Meanwhile, Masha receives a recording from the radio program "Women’s Wave," in which two women on the missing persons list — Inna Svetlova and Alevtina Tsvetova — gave interviews about life in a women’s collective before their disappearance. Masha, along with Gorchakov and his friend Alena, a former sound engineer by training, listen to the recording repeatedly, trying to discern something hidden within it. Alena undertakes to process the recording herself at her institute and, two days later, delivers the results: traces of editing have been detected in the program, and the women’s voices bear signs of psychological pressure.

Lair

Masha, effectively under house arrest, nevertheless decides to meet Erinberg under the guise of a routine visit. She arrives at the fortified mansion, where she is greeted by an impeccably polite secretary and a silent security guard. In the reception area, Masha notices a newspaper with the telling title "The Cloven Hoof" on the table and realizes she’s trapped.

She can’t get through to her people: outgoing calls on her phone are disabled. A man of about fifty, noticeably limping and receding, enters the office through a secret door — the same Shatalov-Erinberg, Ilya Adolfovich. He confirms that he deliberately changed his name to avoid an archival investigation, and with an unusually convincing cadence in his voice, he begins a conversation that makes it clear: the organization he heads has been keeping tabs on Masha for a long time and is pursuing its own goals, far beyond the story of Pasha Ivanov.

The novel ends on this tense moment, without providing any final answers, in the spirit of many books in the series that are intended to be continued.