"Golden Sand" by Polina Dashkova, summary

Polina Dashkova’s action-packed detective novel, "Golden Sand," was published in 1999. The story centers on a complex investigation into a secret conspiracy linking totalitarian sects, illegal gold mining in the Siberian taiga, and a cynical struggle for gubernatorial power in the late 1990s.

The beginning of the investigation and the Siberian mystery

The story begins with the tragedy of former military pilot Ivan Yegorov. Several years ago, his wife, Oksana, and two sons, Slavik and Fedya, fell under the influence of a pseudo-health group called "Healthy Family." It was led by an Eastern preacher, Kim Shanli, who marked his followers with pentagram tattoos. Soon, the family disappeared without a trace. His youngest son, Fedya, was accidentally found among beggars in the subway, in a deep catatonic stupor, and was placed in a psychiatric hospital, while his mother and older brother vanished without a trace.

An old acquaintance of Yegorov’s, the poet Nikita Rakitin, who writes popular crime novels under the pseudonym Viktor Godunov, joins the investigation. The impetus is an unexpected commission from Grigory Rusov, a mutual acquaintance from their youth. Rusov, a high-ranking official and candidate for governor of the Sinedolsky region, hires Nikita to write a laudatory autobiography. Rakitin agrees for the large fee, as he urgently needs money: his ex-wife, Galina, has been blackmailed by scammers over a forged promissory note for fifty thousand dollars, and the criminals have threatened their daughter, Masha.

During his conversations with Rusov, Nikita notices a strange slip of the tongue about an old gold mine. Deciding to verify the facts, Rakitin secretly flies to Siberia under the pretext of a week-long trip to Turkey. In the taiga near the village of Zhelty Log, a local priest, Father Pavel, and a forester, Klavdia, help him reach a closed illegal mine on the Molchanka River. There, Nikita sees a horrific scene: a mass grave of tortured slaves, washed away by a flood, bearing tattoos of the Shanli sect pentagrams. Among the dead, he mentally identifies Oksana and Slavik. Rakitin manages to photograph the remains, after which he miraculously evades the guards and returns to Moscow.

The hunt for the writer and the fire in Vykhino

Realizing he’s uncovered the mine’s secret, Rakitin finds himself in the crosshairs of Rusov’s assassins. At night, on Leningradsky Prospekt, an attempt is made to shoot him from a passing jeep, but the bullets accidentally hit a shop window mannequin. Nikita manages to escape to his apartment on Kropotkinskaya Street, deletes some files from his home computer, grabs floppy disks, cassettes, and tapes, and then escapes through the back door across the rooftops.

Seeking a safe haven, Rakitin turns to a school friend, freelance artist Zina Reznikova. She agrees to let him stay in her room at a hotel dormitory in Vykhino, while she leaves for St. Petersburg.

Meanwhile, a contract killing broker, former lawyer Felix Viktyuk, finds a new assassin for Rusov. He is Anton Slivko, the mentally ill nephew of Zoya Astakhova, editor-in-chief of the Kaskad publishing house. Astakhova had been helping Rusov legitimize the Shanli sect for many years using her medical credentials. Anton tracks Nikita to the dorm, but during a nighttime thunderstorm and a power outage, kerosene spills in the room. Slivko touches an ungrounded washing machine, receives a powerful electric shock, falls, cracks his head on the corner of the windowsill, and dies in the fire. Rakitin himself miraculously escapes through a window via a drainpipe. The charred body is identified using documents and Rakitin’s family cross, which he accidentally dropped.

Political triumph and the escape of the First Lady

Elections are underway in Sinedolsk. Rusov wins by a landslide and prepares for a lavish inauguration. His wife, Veronika (Nika) Elagina, a talented trauma surgeon and Nikita Rakitin’s first love, is burdened by her position as the governor’s wife.

On the eve of the celebration, Zinaida Reznikova sneaks into the hospital to see Nika. She brings anonymous letters and travel money, given to her by an unknown man with a birthmark on his face (disguised as Ivan Egorov). The letter states that Nikita’s death was not an accident, but a contract killing orchestrated by her husband.

During the official banquet celebrating Rusov’s inauguration, Nika secretly leaves the hall, gets into Yegorov’s old Zaporozhets, and flies to Moscow on a scheduled flight with Zinaida. The enraged governor orders his head of security, Igor Simkin, and Moscow-based militants, Stasik and Kostik, to keep his wife under close surveillance.

Leontyev’s investigation and the purge of witnesses

Officially, the writer’s death is ruled an accident, but Captain Andrei Leontyev, an operative of the South-Eastern District Police Department, launches his own investigation. The reason for this is a visit from a deranged old woman, Kudiyarova, who lived in a neighboring dormitory building. In her home, the operatives find a cache of weapons and the synthetic drug psilocybin, which bears Anton Slivko’s fingerprints.

Leontyev discovers that Slivko is Zoya Astakhova’s nephew. The captain interrogates the editor at the publishing house. Realizing her nephew is embroiled in a deadly scheme, Astakhova panics, calls Rusov with threats, and then gets drunk at home. That night, Viktyuk comes to her, extracts information from her about Rusov’s secret scheme with the Shanli sect and the gold mine, and then arranges for her to be silently suffocated with a pillow, disguised as poisoning with a sleeping pill.

Meanwhile, Nika meets with her college classmate, forensic scientist Pyotr Lukyanov. He confirms that the body of the man who died in the fire was cremated illegally and suspiciously quickly to preclude forensic examination. Lukyanov also performs an autopsy on Astakhova and finds a feather from a pillow in her airway, proving the death was violent.

Felix Viktyuk decides to completely cover his tracks. On his orders, Reznikov is fatally struck by a car right in front of Nika. Realizing the mortal danger, Nika tries to escape her husband’s guards and goes to Savyolovsky Station. On the commuter train, a disguised Yegorov gets in next to her. He warns her that Kostik, a security guard with a gun, is following her. On the Lobnya station platform, Yegorov points the police to Kostik, who is detained with a pistol in his pocket.

Revelation and Finale

Nika reaches the remote village of Yelanki near Moscow. In an old log house belonging to Rakitin’s nanny, she finds Nikita alive. It turns out he’d been hiding there all this time, finishing a detailed exposé and gathering evidence with Yegorov.

Soon, a sensational article by Viktor Godunov, "The Gold of Zhelty Log," appeared in a central weekly newspaper, featuring photographs of a mass grave at the mine. Television announced the departure of a government commission and the opening of a criminal case against Rusov.

Crime boss Spelei calls in the governor’s office, which is under lockdown by the prosecutor’s office. The thief reports that he left a pistol with one bullet in his desk drawer. Seeing no other option, Rusov commits suicide.

Viktyuk attempts to revive the cult under a new guise, placing karateka Magda, Shanli’s former bodyguard, at its head. However, Captain Leontyev and his operatives detain the middleman as he leaves the Prague restaurant.

In the epilogue, Ivan Egorov, Nika, and Nikita visit little Fedya in the hospital. The boy emerges from his stupor, begins to speak, and asks for a regular home-cooked meal. A hospital nurse reads a verse from Ecclesiastes at his bedside about the return of all rivers to their original course.