Throughout its history, the books of Holy Scripture have been the subject of study by researchers and commentators of various religious schools and trends. Having gone from liberal Protestant exegesis to the search for the «historical Jesus», Biblical studies has moved out of the confessional context into the space of other modern humanities. Questions of the historicity of the events described in the Old Testament are the subject of scientific discussion in our time. Desnitsky's book organizes the achievements of biblical science over the past 100 years in the field of research of Old Testament texts. In the review, a current situation in Russian biblical science in the field of basic Old Testament studies is chosen as a starting point. The article deals with the main issues and topics raised in the book, conclusions are drawn about the special value of the narrative analysis conducted by A. Desnitsky on the example of the books of the Kings of the Old Testament.