An office romance full of drama with elements of sensual eroticism - this is how one can characterize the new book by retired colonel, journalist and writer Viktor Barants. It was written in the best traditions of socialist realism, with knowledge of all aspects of life - from the purely military to the intimate (which was so lacking in the writers of the late USSR, who turned both socialist realism and the industrial novel into a dreary agitation of the decisions of the “party and government”). Viktor Barants' book, through the actions and feelings of people in uniform and without, provides an accurate snapshot of the state of the army and defense industry during the period of Serdyukov's reforms. The stormy and by no means platonic novel of the protagonist unfolds against the backdrop of intrigue and corruption in Russia's leading rocket manufacturing enterprise. Figuratively speaking, the gentle moans of the colonel’s beloved woman are regularly drowned out by the menacing rumbles of the starting engines of combat missiles. The two main lines of the novel - official and intimate - as the two main motivators of male life, sometimes intertwining, sometimes diverging, do not give an answer to philosophical questions until the very end: what is the balance between Business and Woman in an officer’s soul? Between Honor and Passion? Between Soul and Body? Perhaps the reader will be able to find these answers within himself?