"The Call of Silver" by Tatyana Korsakova, summary Automatic translate

"The Call of Silver" by Tatyana Korsakova, published in 2018, is the final novel in the mystery series "The Secret of the Old Estate." This book is a gothic detective story whose plot intimately links the characters’ destinies with the Ural town of Chernokamensk and the terrifying secrets of Guard Island. The narrative’s distinctive feature is the gradual uncovering of terrifying secrets from the characters’ pasts, connected to cruel experiments and ancient forces.

A mysterious obstacle in the way

Eva Sviridova suffers from severe haptophobia — an overwhelming fear of any physical contact. Her childhood is shrouded in a fog of oblivion, and for years, the experienced Moscow psychiatrist Dr. Gelts has tried unsuccessfully to restore her peace of mind. Eva’s only hope is an elderly jeweler, Mark Vitalyevich Atlas, from the remote Ural town of Chernokamensk. He promises to give her a unique cure — the mysterious "Polozov Blood."

Her older brother, Herman, confined to a wheelchair after a childhood injury, does everything he can to keep Eva from the dangerous trip. But the girl secretly leaves in an SUV he gave her, seeking a long-awaited recovery. On the way, she is caught in a terrible storm, turning the usual summer rain into a raging storm, mercilessly stripping branches from the centuries-old pine trees.

Eva’s path is blocked by a huge pine tree that has fallen across the road. There, she encounters Roman Elizarov, whose car is stuck nearby. The young man is brazen, but agrees to help remove the obstruction. With the help of a rope and Eva’s powerful car, they manage to clear the road. She notices that the tree wasn’t blown down by the wind, but was carefully cut down. Someone has deliberately blocked the entrance to Chernokamensk.

Bloody discoveries and old legends

Arriving at Mark Atlas’s apartment, Eva finds the front door unlocked. Inside, she finds a terrible mess: ancient volumes are torn to pieces, and a Chinese vase is shattered. In his office, she discovers the jeweler himself dead. His throat has been brutally torn out, and blood has soaked his desk and documents. Distraught with terror and her heightened haptophobia, Eva flees the scene, accidentally leaving her fingerprints on the doorframe.

At a local café, Eva meets the welcoming owner, Emma Lvovna Paliy, and the waitresses, Dinka and Lenochka. Soon, Roman Elizarov arrives. The staff reveals terrifying news: a brutal maniac is rampaging through the area, attacking young women on the shores of Strazhevoye Lake. The faces of the dead freeze in a grimace of horror, and before their death, they instantly transform into decrepit, gray-haired old women.

Emma Lvovna shares ancient legends about the architect August Berg, who built the local estate and castle. She also tells of the stone ridge connecting Strazhevoy Kamen Island to the mainland. According to legend, this isthmus is the petrified body of a giant underwater serpent, slumbering forever. This land, shrouded in dark legends, attracts tourists, but conceals a deadly threat to any visitor.

Inhabitants of the Watchstone

Eva settles into the Black Castle mansion on the island, managed by the elegant Amalia. The hotel is home to a motley crew: the renowned film producer Jean Orda and his capricious companion Diana, accountant Anton Palych, and the enigmatic young artist Maximilian Shans. In the backyard, Eva encounters the blissful Gordey, nicknamed Gorynych. This young man feels no physical pain and behaves like a child.

Gordey makes terrifying prophecies, claiming that Eva glows because of the silver in her blood, and that an ancient monster desires her death. Roman Elizarov also stays at the castle, carrying out a secret mission from Herman to protect his sister. Eva visits the Kutasovskaya estate, where the curator of the ethnographic museum, Alena Petrovna Sidorskaya, tells her about the pre-war orphanage that was once located within the walls of the Black Castle.

A terrifying autopsy

Upon learning of Mark Atlas’s tragic death, Alena Petrovna faints but quickly regains her composure. She turns to her godson, Police Colonel Kirill Boytsov. The officer allows Alena Petrovna, Eva, and Roman to examine the bodies. Forensic expert Arseniy Silich shows the wounds on the jeweler’s neck. They were inflicted not by a knife, but by a huge claw.

In the morgue’s basement refrigerator, the heroes see the bodies of two dead girls. Their faces are frozen in a grimace of inhuman horror. Young and vigorous, these young women suffered a sudden, fatal aging before death, a phenomenon for which official medicine cannot explain. Colonel Boytsov demands that Eva and Roman remain silent about what they saw, fearing panic among the local population and the disruption of the festival.

Secrets and conspiracies

That night, the situation on the island escalates. Roman spots a drunken accountant, Anton Palych, arguing with someone in the library over money and a dangerous secret. Later, Roman sees Zhan Orda secretly loading heavy equipment onto a boat. At dawn, Anton Palych’s stabbed body is found in the forest. The day before, Eva and Roman had saved him from a pack of wolves on the road.

Roman questions Gordey in the backyard. He mentions a scary woman with deadly claws and recalls drowning in icy water with Roma and Eva as children. At the museum, Alena Petrovna shows Roman an old album by August Berg. The drawings depict the sinister Albasty — an undead creature with serpentine braids. The Guardian warns the young man of the danger.

Eva and Roman go to check on the missing waitress Dinka. Roman enters her empty room and realizes she was rushed to get ready. Soon, they find Dinka’s body on the shore of Lake Guard. The unfortunate woman has become a decrepit old woman with gouged-out eyes and a severed neck. Eva admits to having seen the girl’s death in a dream.

Colonel Boytsov arrests Eva because of a video recording of her escape from Atlas’s house. During interrogation, Boytsov discovers the real identities of Eva Sviridova and Roman Elizarov. After conducting his own investigation, he connects the dots. It turns out that Eva and Roman are the very same children who disappeared without a trace on the island 18 years ago.

Searching for truth underground

Roman sneaks into the castle’s utility rooms, following a calico cat. He finds a secret passage and enters an abandoned underground prison cell. Here, his memory becomes completely clear. As children, he, Eva, and Gordey were locked in this cell by the mad doctor Gorynychev, Gordey’s father. He conducted cruel experiments, draining their silver blood.

Gorynychev was driven by a desire to save his son from mental retardation. He was assisted in his experiments by Jean Orda, who received the industrialist Kutasov’s treasures in return. During one of his torture sessions in a cave near an underground lake, Gordey peered into August Berg’s cursed hexagonal mirror. This awakened within him a sinister Third Personality — the Were-Snake.

While Roman was tracking Jean Orda through the underground labyrinths, he witnessed him feverishly digging with ground-penetrating radar. The film producer was trying to find Gorynychev’s old hoard, hidden in the cave rubble. Instead, Orda stumbled upon decayed human bones covered in deadly claw marks. This proved that the tragedies of the past were closely intertwined with the current murders.

The children were then saved by the mystical Albasty, summoned by Roman’s mother, the nurse Marina, who sacrificed herself. The undead blocked the surviving children’s memories and led them to the forest. There, they were discovered by Roman’s grandfather, surgeon Alexander Rudazov. Eva ended up in a specialized clinic, and Roman grew up under his grandfather’s care, oblivious to what had happened.

Roman encounters Gordey, who is temporarily dominated by "The Second" — the blessed one’s sentient alter ego. The assistant takes Roman to an underground cave where Eva is locked up, kidnapped by the real killer. He turns out to be Maximilian Chance. It turns out that Maximilian is Amalia’s son, cured of blood cancer by Gorynychev using the silver blood of Eva and Roman.

Bloody denouement

Maximilian has become a monster, stealing youth with his gaze. It was he who killed all the victims for Polozova’s blood. Upon leaving the cave, Maximilian takes Eva hostage. Amalia appears, shoots her own son to save her, and then mourns him bitterly.

Colonel Boytsov, who secretly arrived to help with Roman, witnesses Amalia’s tragedy. The mother, who once sacrificed everything to save her sick child, realizes that her son has turned into a merciless monster. Amalia’s shot puts an end to the brutal killing spree. Colonel Boytsov leads the unfortunate woman away, helping her experience this terrible atonement.

Roman descends into the cave and engages in mortal combat with the awakened Serpent-werewolf. With the help of an ancient silver dagger, he manages to defeat the beast, saving the lives of Gordey and his sentient alter ego.

A year later, Roman and Eva get married at Emma’s café. They are visited by German Sviridov, who is recovering well. Roman and Eva find happiness, freed forever from the nightmares of their past. The cursed hexagonal mirror rests at the bottom of Strazhevoye Lake. Gordey and his alter ego send the newlyweds photographs from the seashore, where they have found their long-awaited peace.