What can be common between the Old Testament and our life at the beginning of the 21st century? How can the paths of God and, say, the Main Intelligence Directorate intersect? Why is a novel written in Russian called the French word “Analyste” (“Analyst”)? In many ways, the unusual work of Andrei M. Melekhov is a journey to where the living rarely go and from where the dead never return. Or rather, almost never. The novel opens in the African country of Angola, which these days has little reminiscent of the Cold War. Except perhaps for Soviet-made weapons, and now Russian military intelligence officers. But besides Africa, the reader will also visit much more distant and mysterious places...

Andrey M. Melekhov is the literary pseudonym of a person whose real name is known in the vastness of the former USSR, rather in the business sphere. He studied and worked in England and the USA, served for several years in the Soviet Army, fulfilling his international duty in Angola. “Analyste” is not a detective story, but an attempt to answer the author’s questions of life, death and conscience.