E. Chebalin's novel "The Corporal's Harem" recalls the best examples of adventure novels of the 20th century in terms of the dynamics of the plot, the intensity of the dramatic episodes, and the rigidity of the writing. The scope of the narrative is striking when the author takes the reader from darkened Berlin to mountainous Chechnya, full of Islamist gangs, Beria’s dungeons and the silent offices of famous politicians. The novel, which successfully combines the European school of action and the ominous exoticism of the East, keeps the reader in suspense from the first to the last page.