The tiny, forbidding St. Peters Island, off the remote northern coast of Alaska, was settled by a colony of fanatical Siberians in 1910, until they were wiped out by the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. These people were followers of the "mad monk" Rasputin, advisor to the Romanov family of Russia.
With the permafrost of the island starting to melt, bodies in the cemetery are at risk of being exposed. Concern for what could happen should these Spanish Flu-infected bodies thaw out, the government has sent in a team of researchers headed by noted epidemiologist Frank Slater to curtail the potentially lethal situation. But Frank's team is not the only one interested in the island.
After finding an emerald-encrusted cross, several fortune hunters conclude that the island cemetery could be the depository of the legendary Romanov jewels. Intent on finding the long-lost gems, no matter the risk, they work to avoid the researchers. What the thieves find, though, compromises the entire situation on the island and proves to be the undoing of everyone involved.
Incorporating flashbacks of nearly 100 years ago speculating on the mystery surrounding the downfall of the Romanov family, Robert Masello adds an interesting historical dimension to THE ROMANOV CROSS. The imaginative plot is a complex blend of several civilizations, both historical and current, and realistic characters add even more dimension to this interesting and exciting book.
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.
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