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"A triumph! With a canny eye for detail, Eastland re-creates the tragedy of the Romanov dynasty in this intelligent and relentless thriller."
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BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Sam Eastland's Shadow Pass. /> Shortly after midnight on July 17, 1918, the imprisoned family of Tsar Nicholas Romanov was awakened and led down to the basement of the Ipatiev house. There they were summarily executed. Their bodies were hidden away, the location a secret of the Soviet state. A decade later, Pekkala, once the most trusted secret agent of the Romanovs, is now Prisoner 4745-P, banished to a forest on the outskirts of humanity. But the state needs Pekkala one last time. His mission: catch the assassins who slaughtered the Romanovs, locate the royal child rumored to be alive, and give Stalin the international coup he craves. Find the bodies, Pekkala is told, and you will find your freedom.
In a land of uneasy alliances and lethal treachery, pursuing clues that have eluded everyone, Pekkala is thrust into the past where he once reigned. There he will meet the man who betrayed him and the woman he loved and lost in the fires of rebellion--and uncover a secret so shocking that it will shake to its core the land he loves.
The main character is quite interesting, and the historical aspects are also very well done, but the plot itself feels weak in places -- just the idea that would drive by car through Siberia to find the one abandoned mine shaft... I am not sure how this is going to be turned into a series. But if you are into Russia/Soviet Union in the 1910s/20s you may find this interesting. ( )
Ten years after the murders of the last of the Romanovs, the Tsar's former personal investigator is dragged out of the gulag by Josef Stalin to investigate those deaths and to recover the wealth hidden by the Tsar. Good story, good characters, fascinating history, and all well told. ( )
Wikipedia has informed that this was Paul Watkins, one of my very favorite authors, writing under a pseudonym. I'm not sure I completely detected Watkins in this novel, I did enjoy the writing and the development of the characters but I found the plotting a bit weak. Jumping back and forth in time was mostly effective but I felt it really highlighted how thin the current plot was. For the master detective, Pekkala seemed to miss things that I, a plain old mystery reader, picked up on. But it was well-written and did give me a totally different sense of place, needed on a hot day in pandemic time.
I enjoyed this new to me series starring Inspector Pekkala. The time period was fascinating. I liked the new twist on a surviving Romanov family member. Pekkala was an interesting character and I liked how Eastland went back and forth between past and present in his life. It really helped you understand him as a character. I especially loved the dynamic Eastland built between Pekkala and his brother. I wish that could have been developed even more. The ending was a tad of a let down, but it does allow for the series to continue, so I can forgive it. ( )
The see-saw narrative is a perfect ploy for a thriller, taking in both the dying embers of the Romanov era and the wake-up call that would follow with the purges and the famines, the assassinations and torture chambers. Pervading this breakneck novel is the sense of an age when personal security was a fallacy, to be trusted no more than the medicinal qualities of the raw vodka knocked back in the taverns. This is a country that has thrown itself out of the frying pan and into the fire.
"A triumph! With a canny eye for detail, Eastland re-creates the tragedy of the Romanov dynasty in this intelligent and relentless thriller."
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HTML:
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Sam Eastland's Shadow Pass.
Shortly after midnight on July 17, 1918, the imprisoned family of Tsar Nicholas Romanov was awakened and led down to the basement of the Ipatiev house. There they were summarily executed. Their bodies were hidden away, the location a secret of the Soviet state. A decade later, Pekkala, once the most trusted secret agent of the Romanovs, is now Prisoner 4745-P, banished to a forest on the outskirts of humanity. But the state needs Pekkala one last time. His mission: catch the assassins who slaughtered the Romanovs, locate the royal child rumored to be alive, and give Stalin the international coup he craves. Find the bodies, Pekkala is told, and you will find your freedom.
In a land of uneasy alliances and lethal treachery, pursuing clues that have eluded everyone, Pekkala is thrust into the past where he once reigned. There he will meet the man who betrayed him and the woman he loved and lost in the fires of rebellion--and uncover a secret so shocking that it will shake to its core the land he loves.
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Google Books — Carregando...
(3.64)
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Characters and plotting interesting .
will definitely try next in the series
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