“Khirurg” — ranniĭ roman Mariny Stepnovoĭ, avtora knig “Sad”, “Zhenshchiny Lazaria” (premiia “Bolʹshaia kniga”), “Bezbozhnyĭ pereulok” i “Gde-to pod Grosseto”.Istoriia genialʹnogo plasticheskogo khirurga Arkadiia Khripunova perepletena s rasskazom o zhizni Khasana ibn Sabbakha — proroka i osnovatelia gosudarstva ismailitov-nizaritov KhI veka, khoziaina nepristupnoĭ kreposti Alamut. Khripunov izmeniaet chelovecheskie tela, a znachit — i sudʹby. Daruia liudiam novye litsa, on vidit pered soboĭ prosto material — khriashchi da kozhu. Ibn Sabbakh trebuet besprekoslovnogo povinoveniia i sobstvennoruchno ubivaet neugodnykh. Oba chuvstvuiut sebia sushchestvami vysshego poriadka, chelovecheskie strasti ikh ne trogaiut, edinstvennoe, chto sposobno porazitʹ izbrannykh Bogom, — zemnaia krasota...“Kogda operatsiia zakonchitsia i ostavlennye im rany stisnut bezuprechno rovnye rty, v mire stanet chutʹ-chutʹ bolʹshe prekrasnogo. Na odnu kapliu. No kogda-nibudʹ — Khripunov ne somnevaetsia — on soberet ėti kapli v odno idealʹnoe litso. I togda v mire snova votsaritsia Bog”.