This is an intricate saga, a trilogy, covering one and a half century in Russia, comprising of related and unrelated characters (though in the end all of them come to be related in one way or the other). Of all Marinina's books (and she has been very prolific) this novel has truly earned the second best place on my list. The story line is unpredictable, the moral dilemmas make you take a step back and think and imagine yourself in similar circumstances. Historical events in Russia (between mid 1800s and the end of 1990s) are given a critical view (sometimes a really unexpected twist of valid, one realizes, criticism) while the characters' lives run through them. And just when you begin to wonder about the adequacy of this or that character to the story line, Marinina skillfully connects the dots and you are left with a sense of awe. ( )