Chaos of an unrestrained freedom.
Crater
“Interesting and unique characters helped to push along a great narrative that made putting the book down a challenge in itself.”
—Brendan Beyer, Business Analyst and Master Wrestler
“Thought-Provoking… Weaves a tale of adventure on many levels and explores fear and triumph, inner conflict and personal growth while telling an engaging story, filled with surprises and complex characters.”
—Dave Rael, Software Architect and Podcaster
“The book captured the moment when the community we loved and all the society started disintegrating, the moment when one still could look back and hope to save the good we had, the last glance in the past lost forever.”
—Egor Terekhov, physicist and painter, served as inspiration for Oleg, one of the main characters.
Synopsis
It is 1992, the USSR has just been dissolved and a free market economy declared. Without corresponding legislature, law enforcement or even cultural tradition, the country fell into a chaos of unrestrained freedom. The former ruling elite: the Communist Party and KGB joined forces with the criminal underground and started to take over, pursuing their own interests only. Ordinary people, not used to being self-governing still hoped that the country’s leaders would take care of them – the hard working majority. But such hopes proved to be futile.
A group of young scientists, some of them rock climbers, and a few of their friends with military training, decided to investigate the Patomskiy crater, located in the middle of Siberia – just north-east of the Lake Baikal, on the border between the main Russian gold mining region and the diamond fields of Yakutia. They hoped to take an interesting break from the grim routine of their lives, before the declining economic situation would render such trips unaffordable.
What they encountered in reality was far from the easy and exciting journey they were expecting. It changed their lives in a way only a tragedy can.
Actual facts about the described area and its history read here.