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A Novel of Suspense
by Sam Eastland
This riveting suspense debut introduces both a stellar new voice and a remarkable detective, an outsider who must use his extraordinary talents to solve the one case that may redeem him.
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, one man lives in purgatory, banished to a forest on the outskirts of humanity. Pekkala was once the most trusted secret agent of the Romanovs, the right-hand man of the Tsar himself. Now he is Prisoner 4745-P, living a harsh existence in which even the strongest vanish into the merciless Soviet winter.
But the state needs Pekkala one last time. The man who knew the Romanovs best is given a final mission: catch their killers, 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. Find the survivor of that bloody night and you will change history.
In a land of uneasy alliances and deadly 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.
With stunning period detail and crackling suspense, Eye of the Red Tsar introduces a complex and compelling investigator in a fiercely intelligent thriller perfect for readers of Gorky Park, Child 44, and City of Thieves.
"Starred Review. The tale is a bit too reliant on flashbacks, but hair-raising action sequences and spellbinding settings make up for that minor flaw." - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. Eastland is succinct yet deeply affecting as he captures truthful emotions in depicting humanity's lust for power and gold." - Library Journal
BookBrowse Review
"I regret to inform you that this book is the definition of stinker. I winced at a myriad of similes like "a silence so complete it seemed to have a sound of its own - a hissing, rushing noise - like that of a planet hurtling through space"; and, "Looking at the Tsar's face was like studying his own reflection in some image of the future." I rallied on, but must say that the characters - from Stalin to the Tsar, peasants to investigators of the "secret police" - are unbelievable at best, with implausible plot twists and ending only adding to the problem." - BJ Hegedus
This information about Eye of the Red Tsar was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sam Eastland is the pseudonymn of Paul Watkins. He is a teacher and writer-in-residence at The Peddie School, and formerly taught at Lawrenceville School. He attended the Dragon School, Oxford, Eton and Yale University. He received a B.A. from Yale and was a University Fellow at Syracuse University, New York.
His recollections of his time at the Dragon School and Etonform his autobiographical work Stand Before Your God: An American Schoolboy in England (1993). He wrote his first book, Night Over Day Over Night (1988), when he was 16 years old.
His other works are Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn (1989), Archangel (1995), The Story of my Disappearance (1997), The Ice Soldier (2005), The Fellowship of Ghosts: Travels in the Land of Midnight Sun (2006), The Red Moth (2013), The Beast in the Red ...
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