A political thriller, this novel features the protagonist from the author's "IArmarke v Sokolʹnikakh" (The fair at Sokolniki), now in the Gorbachev era. But this time the proposed plot has the theme of terrorism. A bomb explosion in the Moscow metro leaves several people dead, more wounded. A university student is found dead in her apartment. The mystical word "Faust" seems to tie these two crimes together. Whether there exists a real connection between them will be learned in the process of investigation by the young investigator for the Moscow City Prosecutor's Office.