Vertical races. Weiner A., ​​Weiner G.

“Vertical Races” (1974) is one of the most famous works of the classics of Russian literature of the Vainer brothers. And at the same time - almost unknown: being filmed, the novel turned out to be partially obscured by the film of the same name (1982), in which the stars of our cinema as Andrei Myagkov and Valentin Gaft played. The picture preserved mainly the plot canvas: the history of the confrontation of the investigator Stas Tikhonov and the thief of Lech Dedushkin, nicknamed Baton. The struggle of justice with lawlessness, hard work with parasitism, good with evil...

Behind this straightforward formula in the book two far from schematic heroist hero with his doubts, despair, loneliness live. Their life is like racing on a vertical wall, full of clashes and dangers. Thanks to the dialogical construction of the narrative, the authors give a word equally to both sides. Especially interesting is the image of the loaf - smart, charming, tormented "parasite and renegade." Readers will also meet with the famous hero from the novel “The meeting place cannot be changed” - Sharapov, who has now become Lieutenant Colonel Moore.

The publication also included the work “Feeling at noon” (1968). In this early story, the Vainers brothers already confidently declared themselves as talented writers who could build an intrigue and convexly register the characters of the heroes. It was after her publication that they came a wide recognition. Yu. Nagibin called the story “Fresh Word in the Development of the Detective Genre”.