Konstantin Shpakov

When you feel you need a fresh start, do something remarkable. Shave your head. That’s what Sasha did when she discovered that she was no longer able to live with her grandpa, who raised her, but is now hospitalized with cancer. Sasha has to move from a small town to her Dad’s in the Moscow suburbs. Unexpectedly everybody in Moscow takes her — shaved and lost — for a boy. From that point Sasha begins her wandering through the big city and its lonely, hidden places.

The story is set at the 1972 Munich Olympics where the U.S. team lost the basketball championship for the first time in 36 years. The final moments of the final game have become one of the most controversial events in Olympic history. With play tied, the score table horn sounded during a second free throw attempt that put the U.S. ahead by one. But the Soviets claimed they had called for a time out before the basket and confusion ensued. The clock was set back by three seconds twice in a row and the Russians finally prevailed at the very last. The U.S. protested, but a jury decided in the USSR’s favor and Team USA voted unanimously to refuse its silver medals. The Soviet players have been treated as heroes at home.

After a long absence, surgeon Maxim Mikhailov returns to his hometown to help his mother, who is suspected of having an early stage of Alzheimer’s. He gets a job at a local hospital, and on the very first day faces a serious test to operate a patient with a severe brain trauma. Maximov saves the girl, but when transferred to the nearby regional hospital, she dies under suspicious circumstances. The doctor launches his own investigation and finds out the dark truth behind the young woman’s death. It is the first case in a series of medical and criminal mysteries he is going to solve throughout the series. Maksimov is a talented doctor and a passionate person, but his methods are both outrageous and admirable. He keeps saving people’s lives performing the most challenging surgeries but, as it turns out, not everyone is happy about it.

Баловень судьбы