Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in 1903 Russia, this disappointing thriller from Belfoure (The Fallen Architect) focuses largely on the troubles facing Nicholas II. Nicholas's autocratic rule is increasingly challenged by revolutionaries who plot numerous attempts on his life and the lives of his family members. Despite increasing violence across Russia, including attacks targeting Jews, the czar remains tone-deaf, even falsely claiming responsibility, post facto, for an army massacre of unarmed protesters to show his support of the military. Nicholas also refuses to believe photographic evidence of his people's suffering. Meanwhile, the authorities suspect that someone close to the czar is part of an effort to topple him, and take extreme measures to identify the traitor. Inaccuracies, such as a Jewish character inviting a friend to his home for Passover with the offer of challah instead of matzah, undermine the realism. Having a main character named Lara and another one a physician will only invite unfavorable comparisons with Doctor Zhivago. Belfoure has done better. Agent: Susan Ginsburg, Writers House. (Jan.)
Kirkus Review
Belfoure's fourth architectural thriller features his most aristocratic and well-placed architect to date--and the fewest thrills. Grand Prince Dimitri Sergeyevich Markhov is the best friend of Nicholas II, czar of Russia. Although he's had many notable commissions, his latest--a request from the czar to design a Tchaikovsky Memorial--is the most high-profile of all, and he throws himself into the project with enthusiasm. In truth, Dimitri's wife, Princess Lara Pavlovna, offers little distraction since she's preoccupied with all the bedmates she's juggling. And Dimitri's own lover, Dr. Katya Alexandrovna Golitsyn, is an accomplished pianist almost as excited as he is over the Tchaikovsky Memorial. But readers who know anything about Russian history will recognize the troubled currents beneath the surface that Belfoure presents with an air of novel discovery. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904 has cut into the czar's popularity. So has his police force's decision to fire on demonstrators agitating for a constitutional monarchy or the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine--a goal Katya's newly discovered Jewish heritage makes her embrace personally. The court is honeycombed with spies, informants, and traitors. And the public jubilation greeting the birth of Alexis, Czarina Alexandra's fifth child and first son, is seriously muffled by the royal family's realization that the czarevich suffers from life-threatening hemophilia, an illness that will eventually (spoiler alert) draw the family into a fatally intimate relationship with the monk Rasputin. No wonder the czar is the target of repeated assassination attempts, one of them involving a creation by peerless jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé. Whatever will become of Dimitri and Katya? A clotted exposition followed by a news flash: Nicholas fiddles while Russia burns. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Despite being friends with with Czar Nicholas II, the emperor of Russia, Prince Dimitri Markhov finds both his life in the Imperial Court montonous and his marriage to the vindictive Princess Lara less than satisfying, compelling him to take solace in his love of architecture. When he meets Katya Golitsyn, a passionate Jewish doctor, the affair that blooms between them opens Dmitri's eyes to the heinous violence perpetrated on the Jewish people by the czar's regime. Once seen, it cannot be unseen, and Dmitri is forced to choose between his dearest friend and the lives of millions of innocent people. Belfoure's dialogue sometimes reads like fictional name dropping, which jars the flow of the story, but the novel offers a unique take on the historically popular Romanov family. The discussion of Russian architecture, the music of Tchaikovsky, and the famous imperial Fabergé eggs combine to create a striking picture of Russian arts and culture in the early 1900s, nicely balanced against the disturbing plight of Russian Jews. Readers who enjoy Martha Hall Kelly and J'nell Ciesielski will want to give this one a try.