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A Novel
by Robert Masello
Nearly one hundred years ago, a desperate young woman crawled ashore on a desolate arctic island, carrying a terrible secret and a mysterious, emerald-encrusted cross. A century later, acts of man, nature, and history converge on that same forbidding shore with a power sufficient to shatter civilization as we know it.
Army epidemiologist Frank Slater is facing a court-martial, but after his punishment is mysteriously lifted, Slater is offered a job no one else wants - to travel to a small island off the coast of Alaska and investigate a potentially lethal phenomenon: The permafrost has begun to melt, exposing bodies from a colony that was wiped out by the dreaded Spanish flu of 1918. Frank must determine if the thawed remains still carry the deadly virus in their frozen flesh and, if so, ensure that it doesn't come back to life.
Frank and his handpicked team arrive by helicopter, loaded down with high-tech tools, prepared to exhume history. The colony, it transpires, was once settled by a sect devoted to the mad Russian monk Rasputin, but there is even more hiding in the past than Frank's team is aware of. Any hope of success hinges on their willingness to accept the fact that even their cutting-edge science has its limits - and that the ancient wisdom of the Inuit people who once inhabited this eerie land is as essential as any serum. By the time Frank discovers that his mission has been compromised - crashed by a gang of reckless treasure hunters - he will be in a brutal race against time. With a young, strong-willed Inuit woman by his side, Frank must put a deadly genie back in the bottle before all of humanity pays the price.
The Romanov Cross is at once an alternate take on one of history's most profound mysteries, a love story as unlikely as it is inevitable, and a thriller of heart-stopping, supernatural suspense. With his signature blend of fascinating history and fantastic imagination, critically acclaimed author Robert Masello has once again crafted a terrifying story of past events coming back to haunt the present day ... and of dark deeds aching to be unearthed.
"Starred Review. While the novel builds to a tense climax, the final act drags just a hair, but the payoff is an extremely satisfying conclusion. Tense, taut and impossible to put down." - Kirkus
"Starred Review...The result is a terrific, can't-put-it-down read. Fine prose and plotting help solidify Masello's position at the top of this crowded subgenre." - Publishers Weekly
This information about The Romanov Cross 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.
Robert Masello is an award-winning journalist, a television writer, and the author of many books, including the supernatural thrillers The Medusa Amulet, Blood and Ice, Vigil (a USA Today bestseller), and Bestiary. His articles and essays have appeared in such publications as the Los Angeles Times, New York magazine, People, and Parade, and his nonfiction book Robert's Rules of Writing has become a staple in many college classrooms. His television credits include such popular shows as Charmed, Sliders, and Early Edition. A long-standing member of the Writers Guild of America, Masello lives in Santa Monica, California.
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Every good journalist has a novel in him - which is an excellent place for it.
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