Beetle In the Anthill

Beetle in the Anthill is the sequel to Prisoners of Power, but its plot is almost independent.

The novel is set in 2178 AD (approximately 20 years after the events of Prisoners of Power) & follows the story of the main character of the first novel, Maxim Kammerer. Kammerer, now an experienced investigator of COMCON-2, receives an order to track down a man named Lev Abalkin, who was not supposed to return to Earth but has returned nevertheless. The order was issued in secret by Rudolf Sikorski (called "Excellency" throughout the book), the chief of COMCON-2.-Wiki

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Today, Arkady & Boris Strugatsky are counted among the best science fiction writers of the twentieth century, but their relationship with the late-Soviet literary establishment in their home country of Russia was often fraught. 

Acclaimed during the brief Khrushchev Thaw, the Strugatskys began to fall from grace in the late 1960s as publishers became increasingly reluctant to release their works. The authors' inability to publish, however, diminished neither their productivity nor their popularity among readers. Their novels & short stories, retyped by hand, circulated widely through unofficial channels within the Soviet Union & occasionally turned up abroad in unauthorized translation.