A fall from a hospital window. A message from beyond the grave. A town that wants the truth buried.
A fall from a hospital window. A message sent from beyond the grave. A town that wants the truth buried.
Inspired by real events in modern Russia.
When investigative journalist Yana Yaskova dies in what authorities call a tragic accident, the case is closed within hours.
But her final message tells a different story: “Contact my friend Nastya. She’ll know what to do.”
Nastya—a brilliant hacker with a dangerous past—teams up with oligarch-turned-fighter Max Voronin to uncover the truth. Their search leads them to Zmeika, a backwater southern Russian town where outsiders aren’t welcome and nothing is as it seems.
What begins as a suspicious death quickly spirals into something far darker.
Violent gangs. Corrupt police. Suspicious activity at the local military base. A population living in fear. And a set of secrets powerful enough to kill anyone who gets too close.
As Max and Nastya dig deeper, they realize Yana wasn’t chasing just another story—she had uncovered a conspiracy that the town’s rulers are desperate to conceal. Hunted and outnumbered, they are pulled into a deadly game of corruption and betrayal that transports them from the dark heart of Russia to the gangster underworld of Dubai and back again. When the price of failure is this high, what are they willing to sacrifice to find the truth?
Because in Zmeika, asking questions is dangerous.
And falling… is just the beginning.
Written by an author with over 30 years of firsthand experience in Russia, Death By Falling is not just an explosive page-turner, it’s a brutal exposé of a corrupt regime. perfect for fans of Baldacci, McCloskey, Bradby and Forsyth.
Book 3 in the Max Voronin series—can be read as a standalone.