Alexey Sherstobitov’s new book is a continuation of his book “The Skin of the Devil,” published a year ago. The characters familiar to the reader from the first novel by the legend of the underworld of the 90s Lesha Soldat - Vesna, Tatyana, General Siluyanov, Aunt Eleanor - became the main characters in this work. What is the new novel about? Its genre is not easy to define: there is a superbly structured, edgy plot in which intelligence services and secret organizations are involved, and the world of crime with its cruel laws, and personal experiences, and religious and philosophical reflections. And all this is against the backdrop of the heavenly world of bright angels and fallen spirits, waging an irreconcilable war for every human soul. “You can regret, but you can’t change anything,” the author writes in the preface to “Skin...”. In the new book, he seemed to set out to refute himself: his main character - himself - being in a long-term coma, travels, accompanied by a Guardian Angel, between the earthly vale and eternal life, struggling to receive a “second chance” from the hands of God ", the opportunity to choose a different path both in this world and in the afterlife. And the best means for this, as the author writes, is “a look from the outside... not only at someone, but also at yourself, and, above all, through the eyes of those who were once close and dear to you.” Then one of the mysteries of the universe takes place: the transformation of the human soul, its anabasis, purification and ascent to eternal life. This is the path that the “restless spirit” of Lesha Soldat takes. And the contradiction between the fact that “nothing can be changed” and the completed transformation of the soul is apparent. Of course, the past is unchangeable, but you can change, correct your future fate - this is what the author strives for, calling on the reader to do the same. Correction is a return to the pure moral, absorbed with mother’s milk, that was implanted in us by God. To return to the roots, to the beginning of the path, means to try again, but with the existing experience. Of course, it is not a guarantee, since the flow into which the person taking the second chance enters will not be the same and what is acquired cannot be a panacea, but only milestones showing the direction of movement. This gift will not be easier than the previous life. But does a beginner need to think about this? The first lighthouse is visible, and since someone placed it, you can walk to it. Only the one who walks can cross the road.