Nikolaj and Vera are at home in the evening – he is drinking Vodka, she drinks tea – when there is a knock on the door. Vera opens and Nikolaj listens attentively from his chair. There is a man in front of the door, ‘Sergeant Bertrand’. But why do they whisper all of the sudden? A tiny crack appears in the mutual trust of the married couple, transforming Nikolaj, until it takes fully hold of him. 

It was just a matter of time, with a wife as beautiful as Vera, who is on the stage every evening, worshipped by her audience. Nikolaj starts to follow her, to spy on her, he hears rumors about the world of theatre, sees every man as a potential lover and gets caught up in his own paranoia.

Along with Nikolaj, we start to lose our grip on reality. What is true, and what do we make up? How do we handle the aspects of our lives which we do not like? And what if we are not aware of our own machinations anymore? Sergeant Bertrand weaves an ingenious web of intrigue and illusion that keeps us glued to our chairs until we are completely inside the head of Nikolaj, until we also ask: who was that man in front of the door, that Sergeant Bertrand?

‘A thrilling novel about guilt and atonement.’ – De Volkskrant****

‘I read Sergeant Bertrand in one sitting, and after I had finished it, it continued to hold me in its grip.’ – NRC Handelsblad

‘Sergeant Bertrand is an exceptionally fascinating and accomplished novel that skillfully intertwines reality, dream, delirium and madness.’ – KnackFocus*****

‘Skorobogatov tells his tale from within the madness of his main character. What is truth and what is only taking place in the head of Nikolaj? The short, feverish chapters carry you away. Nikolaj is caught up in his jealousy and the reader is caught with him.’ – i.a. Haarlems Dagblad, Leidsch Dagblad and Noordhollands Dagblad****

‘Skorobogatov intertwines sexual obsession, jealousy, fear, aggression and the drive to abandonment with one another, in a work that has strong undertones of the French writer-philosopher Georges Bataille; a dark book that plays with the tempting and at the same time repulsive connection between the erotic and violence, love and hate, reality and nightmare.’ – Trouw

‘Sergeant Bertrand is a breathtaking book, written in the sober prose that is neccessary for writing a tale about the logic of madness.’ – Dagblad van het Noorden

‘With this beautiful, tragic novel, Skorobogatov has earned his place in the grand Russian tradition’ – Le Figaro