José Carlos Somoza is one of the most popular Spanish writers, winner of the Golden Dagger Award and many other literary awards (Silver Dagger Awards and Gold Dagger Awards, Nadal Prize, Cervantes Theater Prize, Café Gijon Prize). In Somoza’s novel “ Croatoan" strange events occur. On September 6 (in the near future), the world goes crazy: people and animals, snakes and insects in whole colonies walk, crawl, fly - in the same rhythm, with one body - through cities, forests, mountains and swamps. Any living creatures encountered along the way either join the ominous procession or die on the spot. Governments of different countries, police, scientists, journalists are at a loss, not understanding what is happening, because almost the entire planet is covered by a total epidemic. TV screens go dark and communications stop working. The disappearance of all forms of civilization is coming. This apocalypse was foreseen by Professor Carlos Mandel, an animal behaviorist who committed suicide two years ago. Before his death, he programmed a message to be sent to several loved ones, including his student, biologist Carmela Garces, that could help change the course of these terrible events. But will they be able to understand this signal, because the message consists of a single word - “Croatoan”? This inscription was found on a distant island, where in the sixteenth century the entire population mysteriously disappeared... For the first time in Russian!