Noah by Marc Levy, summary

French author Marc Lévy’s novel "Noah" was published in 2022. This book is the final installment in the action-packed trilogy "Group 9," which also includes the novels "It Happened at Night" (2020) and "Twilight of the Predators" (2021). The author combines the genres of political detective and cyberthriller, addressing the events of Eastern European politics in 2020–2021.

The story revolves around an international community of hackers challenging authoritarian rulers and the oligarchs associated with them. The group’s previous investigations led to the publication of the "Andorra" dossier, which exposed elite financial crimes. Now, their comrades are tasked with confronting the dictatorship in Belarus and rescuing political prisoners.

Murder in Minsk and hijacking of a passenger plane

The story opens with a scene in the Okrestina detention center in Minsk. Journalist Darya visits Nikolai, the husband of Svetlana, who won the 2020 presidential election. To protect her children from reprisals, Svetlana agreed to forced exile to Lithuania, while her husband remains a hostage of the security services. Darya gathers information about prison conditions and prepares a publication proving the fabrication of the charges against Nikolai. That evening, on her way home, Darya is killed by a hitman who shoots into her car.

Meanwhile, in London, Israeli journalist Janice is preparing for a court hearing. British tycoon Ayrton Cash is accusing her of libel for publicly alleging illegal funding of the Brexit campaign. Janice hopes to obtain supporting documents from Belarusian dissident Roman Protasevich, founder of the opposition channel Nexta.

Roman and his companion, Sofia, speak at a conference in Athens, calling on Europeans not to turn a blind eye to the crimes of autocrats. On their way back to Vilnius, their Ryanair plane is forcibly intercepted by a Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet. The authorities raise a false alarm about a bomb on board and land the aircraft in Minsk. Roman and Sofia are arrested, taken to Okrestina, and subjected to brutal torture.

Investigating hackers and searching for the cipher

The members of Group 9 urgently join forces to prove the dissidents’ innocence in the fake terrorist attack and prevent Roman’s execution. In Oslo, law professor Ekaterina discovers a loophole in the Athens airport system: an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner, "Hector," was operating in the terminal’s lounge. In Madrid, her colleague Diego visits the Terrasol factory, meets with the sales manager, Ines, and obtains the device’s diagnostic codes. Ekaterina gains access to cameras and passenger lists.

In London, analyst Cordelia tracks diplomatic transport near the Greek conference center. In Kyiv, twin brothers Vitya and Alik identify the Belarusian KGB agents who staged a fracas in the cabin before the plane’s turnaround. Hackers edit video footage with irrefutable evidence of the entrapment and distribute it to leading European publications.

Janice arrives in Vilnius, where she meets Svetlana and Roman’s father. Before his arrest, the dissident sent an encrypted note to his parents through a flight attendant, mentioning a Yummy fast food restaurant, a dog named Floppy, and 540 rubles. The hackers realize the note refers to an ultra-secure storage device. Janice finds a grooming salon across from the tower and takes the flash drive from the elderly groomer.

The team spends a long time trying to figure out the access code to the drive that initiates the self-destruct timer. An unknown community member, using the pseudonym "9," suggests the correct solution: the phrase "and not a ruble more" means adding two units to the sum. Janice successfully enters the password and opens the file containing the Okrestina schematics.

Meanwhile, hacker Maya completes her operation in London. Having gained the trust of Ayrton Cash’s wife, Russian spy Nika, Maya downloads a database from her phone. Her accomplices obtain compromising information on those close to the Belarusian ruler Luchin: the head of the Internal Security Service, the chief sanitary doctor, and the head of the detention center.

Penetration into Okrestina

Janice travels to Belarus. At the Lithuanian border, she hides in a hidden compartment in a cargo van, under a crate containing a painting by Kasyulis. In Minsk, she is received by activist Marika, and Daria’s widower, Mikhail, shows her his dead wife’s secret diary, which contains precise plans of the prison. Janice discovers that the electronic locks and cells of the detention center operate on a separate intranet, inaccessible to outside hackers.

Realizing that the security system can only be disabled from the inside, Janice makes a desperate decision. She travels to Vitebsk, visits Marc Chagall’s house to prepare an official article, sends the finished text to editor Efron, and destroys her phones and laptop. At the Minsk train station, she openly surrenders to the patrol officers.

After interrogation at the KGB building, Janice is transferred to Okrestina. She is allowed one phone call, and she contacts a local businessman, Blansky, whose contact information was provided by Collins, a London lawyer. In prison, Janice is sent to forced labor in the basement laundry. Along with political prisoner Irina, she maintains Taizhou industrial washing machines.

Janice realizes that the laundry room’s supervisors’ computer combines camera control with online commercial order processing. By overloading the drum, the journalist manages to read the internal network parameters from the reboot screen. When Blansky’s messenger arrives in the visiting room, Janice dictates the necessary data to him under the guise of a pie recipe. The messenger then sends a message to his comrades.

Cyberattack and popular uprising

Coordinator Mateo decides to move the server strike to Rome, recognizing the risk of his own legitimate business being exposed. On Sunday morning, Cordelia begins blackmailing government officials. The terrified head of security takes his family and flees abroad, and the chief medical officer dispatches a convoy of ambulances to the isolation ward.

At 11:00 AM, Mateo launches a massive attack, paralyzing government networks, transport control centers, and ministry servers in Belarus. The only functioning communication channel remains an underground network of routers and antennas, previously delivered by Cordelia’s allies.

A fire alarm sounds in the detention center. The electronic locks are disabled, throwing open the cell doors. Roman finds Nikolai, and both of them exit unhindered through the checkpoint: the prison warden, intimidated by the incriminating evidence, orders the guards not to interfere.

A special forces team bursts into the basement laundry room. One of the attackers turns out to be Mossad agent Noa — Janice’s close friend, whose death was staged six months ago. Noa neutralizes the guards and escorts Janice and Irina outside. The freed prisoners are taken away in ambulances.

Through an autonomous network, activists broadcast the message "Spring is beginning in the East." Thousands of Belarusians in rented buses, tractors, and personal cars converge on the Ganevo border crossing. Border guards lay down their arms before the huge, peaceful crowd. Svetlana’s motorcade ceremoniously enters the country.

At the Palace of Independence, dictator Lucin tries in vain to summon guards and generals. Finding the telephone lines cut and the corridors empty, the ruler panics and locks himself in his office as citizens approach.

Restoring justice

At the border, Noah reveals to Janice the secret of his disappearance: she was the ninth member of the community and the liaison for the artificial intelligence "9," created by Mateo. Having completed their mission, the companions disperse to different countries, still hoping to reunite soon.

In London, lawyer Collins receives an anonymous package from "9" containing financial documents confirming the oligarch Cash’s guilt. Janice’s name is fully cleared, and the Belarusian people gain long-awaited freedom.