"A Cure for Fear" by Arkady and Georgy Vainer, summary Automatic translate

This book is a detective novel by the Vainer brothers. Published in 1976, it is written in the form of two parallel narratives: a modern police investigation alternates with historical episodes from the life of the great medieval physician and alchemist Paracelsus. The historical scenes are presented as visions or reflections of one of the book’s main characters, a brilliant scientist suffering a severe nervous breakdown.

The work proved quite successful and was adapted into two films. In 1978, a full-length film of the same name by Albert Mkrtchyan was released, and in 1989, the plot formed the basis for the television series "Entrance to the Labyrinth."

Strange poisoning

Police Captain Andrei Filippovich Pozdnyakov lost his ID and service weapon. At a football match, an unknown neighbor offered him a beer. Pozdnyakov lost consciousness and woke up in a sobering-up station. General Sharapov assigned the investigation to Inspector Stanislav Tikhonov of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department. Sharapov suspects the police officer of drunkenness and negligence, but Tikhonov refuses to believe his colleague’s claim of poisoning. An analysis of a beer cap found in Pozdnyakov’s pocket reveals traces of a highly potent chemical. Expert Khaletsky explains the drug’s mechanism of action to Tikhonov. A thiazine derivative, a powerful tranquilizer that alleviates human fears and depression, has been discovered.

Academic circles

Tikhonov goes to the psychoneurology research center to see Professor Alexander Nikolaevich Panafidin. The young, energetic, and ambitious scientist confirms the existence of a formula for a substance tentatively named metaproptizol. Panafidin claims that no laboratory has yet succeeded in synthesizing the drug. According to the professor, such a drug could revolutionize medicine, relieving people of stress and nervous disorders.

Activities of scammers

While Tikhonov is studying the scientific community, scammers appear in Moscow. The criminals use Pozdnyakov’s stolen ID. They visit the apartments of wealthy citizens, posing as employees of the Department for Combating the Theft of Socialist Property. The scammers conduct unauthorized searches and seize large sums of money, jewelry, and expensive items.

The victims of the robberies include stoker Ekaterina Pachkalina, the wife of fugitive embezzler Rashid Ramazanov, and sales worker Solomon Pontyaga. All of them are connected to a long-standing case involving the underground knitwear workshop of the "Fisherman-Sportsman" cooperative. The criminals know exactly who to approach and rob people who are afraid to go to the police. The inspector speaks with his colleague Savostyanov, who was investigating the theft pattern. Tikhonov understands the need to look for a tip-off among those closely familiar with the materials of the old criminal case.

Finding the drug’s creator

The inspector examines Professor Panafidin’s author’s certificates. Among the co-authors, Tikhonov finds Pozdnyakov’s wife, Anna Vasilyevna Zhelonkina. The couple has long lived apart in the same apartment. Zhelonkina works as Panafidin’s deputy and treats her husband with open disdain. The family has effectively broken up, but the divorce has not been finalized. Zhelonkina finds the company of her uneducated husband burdensome.

Another of Panafidin’s regular collaborators is Vladimir Konstantinovich Lyzhin. Several years ago, Lyzhin left the lab after a serious conflict with the professor. Tikhonov visits Panafidin’s former supervisor, Professor Ilya Petrovich Blagolepov. The elderly scientist describes Lyzhin as a talented thinker with boundless imagination. Blagolepov is also Panafidin’s father-in-law. The old man hints to Tikhonov about his son-in-law’s selfish nature.

Tikhonov visits Lyzhin at home. The scientist lives in poverty, in a tiny room cluttered with books. Lyzhin accuses Panafidin of cowardice, selfishness, and betrayal. Several years ago, Panafidin feared responsibility for the sudden death of a patient and blamed Lyzhin. During their conversation, Lyzhin bluntly tells Tikhonov: "I synthesized this drug!" The scientist drives the inspector to a hospital on the outskirts of the city, where he works as a simple lab technician. Lyzhin demonstrates a reactor cabinet and hands Tikhonov a test tube containing several grams of white powder.

The History of Paracelsus

At the same time, Tikhonov learns of Lyzhin’s emotional tragedy. Many years ago, his fiancée fell ill with an incurable mental illness. She sank into silence and died. Lyzhin vowed to find a cure for her mental anguish. He associated his entire life with the fate of Theophrastus von Hohenheim, known as Paracelsus.

The historical chapters describe Paracelsus’s wanderings across medieval Europe. The young physician refuses to blindly trust the ancient authorities Galen and Avicenna. Paracelsus boldly declares, "Experience is the mother of all sciences." The physician uses chemicals to treat patients and battles greedy apothecaries. The physician endures poverty, exile, and slander from colleagues. His faithful student, Asriel, is burned at the stake on charges of heresy. Paracelsus heals the wealthiest banker, Jakob Fugger, but predicts the degeneration of his family. In Basel, the physician burns medical books in front of a crowd of students, urging them to learn from nature itself. Paracelsus’s life becomes that of a solitary genius, devoting himself to serving the sick.

Denouement

An anonymous letter arrives at Petrovka. The unknown person reports that metaproptizol is hidden in the rear bumper of Panafidin’s car. Tikhonov indeed finds an ampoule there. The inspector suspects the professor of attempting to appropriate someone else’s discovery. That night, old Professor Blagolepov keeps watch in Lyzhin’s lab, fearing a visit from his son-in-law. The old man wants to stop Panafidin from stealing other people’s materials.

The truth turns out to be more prosaic. Lyzhina’s lab assistant, the beautiful Aleksandrova, was once in an affair with Panafidin. After their breakup, she took up with artist and model Boris Chebakov. It was Chebakov who organized the gang of fake police officers. Aleksandrova bragged to her new lover about a flask of the drug. Chebakov stole the powder. The bandit decided to poison the annoying police officer Pozdnyakov, who was interfering with his idle life, and planted the remains of the drug in Panafidin’s car as a distraction.

Lyzhin himself can’t handle the stress. He ends up in the psychiatric ward of his own hospital. In his delirium, the scientist believes he’s Paracelsus. Head physician Khlebnikov undertakes to treat his friend with the drug he created, metaproptizol.

Tikhonov apprehends Chebakov right in his apartment. The criminal gives up his accomplices, who are off on another job with the merchant Lipkin. Captain Pozdnyakov is dispatched to apprehend the bandits. Armed with General Sharapov’s personal weapon, the police officer fearlessly engages the criminals in hand-to-hand combat. Pozdnyakov takes his pistol from them and restores his officer’s honor.

The story ends with Tikhonov’s visit to Lyzhin’s hospital room. The medicine has taken effect, and the scientist’s mind clears. Lyzhin forgets his historical visions. Tikhonov leaves early in the morning, contemplating a future open only to those who remember their past. The narrative concludes with an epitaph on the grave of Paracelsus, who cured incurable diseases with his ideal art.