Eye of the Red Tsar, by Sam Eastland

I went to the library a few days ago after work because I wanted to go for a walk, and the library is on the street intersecting the street our offices are located on. There’s nothing better than getting some exercise and getting a book out of the deal!

I decided to look at the new arrivals first, since that was how I found Joe Meno several months ago. I’m trying really hard to broaden my author horizon. When I was in high school, I didn’t read anything else besides Stephen King and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. (Not that there’s anything wrong with either!) In the last few months, I’ve read a bunch of new authors. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Mastodon. Their new album, which is my favorite, has a song on it about the murder of the Romanovs. This song quickly became my favorite of theirs — before I even knew who Mastodon was! I’ve always been fascinated with the Romanovs. Maybe it’s because I’m part Russian and it’s in my blood to be interested in my ancestors’ history. Maybe it’s because I saw the movie Anastasia as a kid and could never get the fact that a whole family had been murdered for political reasons out of my head.

But when I saw Eye of the Red Tsar sitting on the shelf at the library, I pretty much knew I was going to read it. Before deciding, I read the synopsis on the inside of the jacket.

A decade [after the murder of the Romanov family], 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…

I read the first few sentences, and quickly closed the book shut; the sooner I checked it out, the sooner I could read it!

Over the next couple of days, I was riveted. There were a couple of nights I stayed up well into early morning to keep reading. The book definitely started off slow; you can easily tell this is Sam Eastland’s first published novel. It gradually picks up speed, though, and I was interested enough to keep reading even when Eastland did a lot of telling rather than showing. About halfway through, however, it starts getting really interesting. There were enough twists and turns, and enough tidbit details about Pekkala (the main character), to keep me reading through cigarettes, meals, and even when I should have been sleeping.

Eastland crafted a very interesting character in Pekkala, known as the Emerald Eye because of his service to the Tsar. Pekkala begins investigation with his brother Anton and Lieutenant Kirov. Along the way, you get flashbacks of back story showing Pekkala’s and Anton’s childhood, Pekkala’s days with the Romanovs, and his many days of interrogation by Stalin, who wanted the location of the Tsar’s treasure.

There are so many things that make this book spellbinding, taking its own course from history and spinning a fantastic work of fiction. As much as I wanted Pekkala to solve the murder and find the rumored missing child (which is not, by the way, Anastasia), I also didn’t want the book to end.

It did, however, and even the ending is interesting, leaving room for a sequel if Eastland chose to do more with the characters.

At the back of the book, Eastland includes a section called “What Really Happened to the Romanovs”, which interested me because I never knew the full history, and while reading couldn’t separate fact from fiction (which was kind of cool, because it allowed me to get deeper into the story rather than picking it apart). While reading, I kept saying that I needed to pick up a history book about the Romanovs and the Revolution. There are a lot of fascinating rumors that surround their murder, and reading Eye of the Red Tsar has piqued my interest again (and, of course, Mastodon).

If you’re a history buff or just like murder mysteries or suspense, Eye of the Red Tsar is a great work of historical fiction. I give it Five Freaking Stars.

UPDATE: There is going to be a sequel, published in 2011! You can see photos from the Revolution, a preview from the next book, and the “What Really Happened” section all at the Inspector Pekkala website.

SPOILER ALERT!

READING GROUP TOPICS: (PDF)

Every week, I will post one topic and open comments for discussion. This week’s topic is:

What enables Pekkala to survive for as long as he does as a tree marker?

I think that Pekkala’s previous training and the way that he was raised enabled him to survive so long. After all, he survived days of isolation and torture while being interrogated. I also think that his solitary nature allowed him to survive. Since, as a tree marker, he had no human interaction and was pretty much allowed to keep to himself, he drew on that solitude and used it as a comfort rather than a sentence. He was resourceful enough to build a cabin and ration his food supplies because of his training.

I also think that he was allowed to survive. We find out later that Stalin wanted to keep him alive in case they needed him again. I think previous tree markers were probably not given a regular ration of supplies, and Pekkala was only because Stalin wanted him alive.

What do you think?