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It is interesting that in his acknowledgements Steve Berry expresses a debt of gratitude to Dan Brown, the author of the unjustifiably popular DA VINCI CODE, since that fact alone may give the prospective reader some intimation of the kind of thing awaiting within the writer's work. This book has, similar to his THE AMBER ROOM and THE THIRD SECRET, threads running in both past and present. Black American lawyer Miles Lord is in Moscow to do research for his legal firm that will make sure their candidate for Tsar of all Russias, Stefan Baklanov, has an impeccable pedigree that will ensure there can be no challenge to his right to govern the massive country. Lord is with a Russian lawyer when gunmen fire on the duo, killing his companion. Miles is left wondering if perhaps he is the target of the two killers whom he dubs Droopy and Cro-Magnon. He soon finds himself at odds with the law and takes refuge with a performer belonging to the Moscow Circus, Akilina Petrovna. The two are bound together to fulfil a prophecy made by the rascally Rasputin, in the opening pages of the book, concerning the resurrection of the Russian monarchy. Somehow, Miles' research has made him a handicap for his firm and certain powerful influences mandate his killing and possibly that of Akilina. Miles, in the company of Petrovna, flees Russia and returns to the USA, hot on the trail of a more direct pretender to the Romanov throne. There is an awful lot of suspension of disbelief required for this book to work. First, the reader must accept that the Russian people would heed the call of something deep in their souls which demands the return of a Romanov Tsar. Then the reader must believe that some Russians are so dead to the call of their soul that they would, in the interests of their pockets and their own possible power, prefer to have someone malleable as Tsar rather than the true Romanov successor. A further leap of faith requires the reader's acceptance of a Romanov heir growing up in America. After all these items, perhaps it is just a small matter to believe that Rasputin made an accurate prophecy and that two Romanov children escaped the general massacre and lived to procreate. The author has done a great deal of research in order to produce a plausible tale. The fiction is nicely blended with historical fact but it is up to the reader to decide whether the entirety works.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, November 2005
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