About the book: 2023 / In a small apartment of an ordinary five-story building, the body of a young woman with numerous stab wounds was found. A long cut is blackened on the victim’s face, creating a terrifying semblance of a terrible smile, and the lips are coldly stitched with black threads. Who could commit such a terrible crime, beyond even the most perverted imagination? Trying to unravel the plot of this brutal crime, the arrogant and vain detective Alain Rasmus obsessively wanders through the labyrinth of mysteries and secrets surrounding not only this murder, but also a similar event that occurred ten years ago. Catching a crazed maniac is half the battle: finding out his motive is much more difficult. What if the victims... deserved their punishment?