Review of The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry

I’ve always found the brief but violent history of Czar Nicholas II and his family so I’m aware of Rasputin’s macabre prophecy that if anyone from the royal family or their relatives assassinated him, the czar would die within two years. His prognostication came true.


In July 1918, Nicholas, Alexandria, their five children and four servants were shot to death in a basement in a house in Ekaterinburg. Their bodies were buried in the woods several miles away.

When the burial site was exhumed, two skeletons were missing, those of Aleksei and Anastasia. Berry’s book, The Romanov Prophecy, builds on the premise that the tow children survived the massacre by would-be assassins and secreted away.

The novel opens with Miles Lord, an Attorney from Atlanta, almost being assassinated on the streets of Moscow by mysterious men. A colleague is killed and Miles is on the run. In Russia to help restore the monarchy, Lord unknowingly stumbles on information that could jeopardize the current claimant to the throne, a man backed by millions of American dollars.

Lord finds himself criss-crossing the globe with beautiful dancer Akilina Petrovna, following clues to a cryptic message and trying to stay a step ahead of Russian hit men. Could Aleksei and Anastasia have eventually made their way to America? And if so, could there be direct descendants of Nicholas II with stronger ties to the throne than the man currently seeking the crown?

It’s a great basis and it makes for an exciting page-turner but anyone who has read Robert Massie’s incredible work on the Romanovs will know none of them made it out of the basement room alive. He has an interesting theory, well-grounded in facts, on where the two missing bodies are.

Nonetheless, The Romanov Prophecy is an intriguing novel, reminiscent of Dan Brown’s work. From the synopsis, I thought it would be more of a spy novel, the likes of Daniel Silva and Brad Thor, but I wasn’t disappointed. Berry’s story is a great thrill ride through the streets of Moscow and San Francisco.

The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II by Edvard Radzinsky

I don’t usually read two books in a row on the same subject but I borrowed these from a friend and need to return them. The first book, Robert Massie’s The Romanovs: The Final Chapter read as a sequel to The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II by Edvard Radzinsky. The latter did much of the research and digging into numerous Russian archives, many of which he was denied access. However, Radzinsky persevered. The result of his decades-long labors is an amazing work of history, giving us a glimpse into a heinous act covered up for most of a century.

Radzinsky reproduces many entries from the diaries of the royal family themselves: Nicholas II, his beloved wife Alexandra and some of their five children. This brings the tsar and his family to life, as people with fears, blind faith and uncertainties of the future. Radzinsky paints an entirely different picture of ‘Nicholas the Bloody’, as a weak-willed man, susceptible to the whims of his tougher relatives and his unhinged wife who was under the spell of the mad monk Rasputin, the Holy Devil.

I wonder if Radzinsky’s book would have been published had the Soviet rule not ended when it did. Much of the work shows the propaganda, lies and subterfuge employed by the Bolsheviks, the Whites and the secret police to sway the Russian citizens into the herd mentality. And it worked. The population went along with whichever way the wind was blowing that day. Or maybe it was in fear for their lives. Although the repressive regime suppressed the tongues of several generations, many people came forward to talk to Radzinsky, giving eyewitness accounts of the tsar’s last two years.

There seems to be a lot that got lost in the translation from Russian to English (this edition was translated by Marian Schwartz) or perhaps editing follows a different set of rules in Russia, but the book is not an easy read, especially for those not already well-schooled on Russian history. He leaves a lot out. For example, on page 177 he states that ‘everyone remarked on the tsar’s strange indifference at that terrible time’. Who commented? What did they say?

Radzinsky puts more emphasis on the facts rather than the flow. He interposes his personal opinion on many of the events or people. He switches back and forth between Grand Duchess Olga, Nicholas’ sister and Grand Duchess Olga, Nicholas’ daughter without distinguishing which one. One may think it’s easy to discern between a woman and her niece but sometimes the vague details makes it difficult.

He mentions several times that Alexandra had the blood of Mary Stuart in her veins. Mary Stuart got her head cut off by her cousin Elizabeth I after being imprisoned in the Tower of London for nineteen years. Where is the parallel?

Radzinsky compares Grand Duke Michael Romanov’s secretary Brian Johnson to Mr. Pickwick. Who?

Despite the difficult read, this is definitely a book to save and read again. There is a lot of history here that isn’t taught in school and probably wouldn’t be seen if it was for Radzinsky’s diligence in seeking out facts that many people died to keep secret.

The Romanovs: The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie

Just like the first time, I read this incredible book in one day. Since the fall of Imperial Russia and the rise of the Bolsheviks played a pivotal role in my family’s history, I’ve had more than a passing interest in the last czar, Nicholas II and his family.

Robert K. Massie’s work is based on numerous reports, interviews and research into what happened the night of July 16-17, 1918, when the czar, his wife, their five children and four servants were massacred in a cellar room in Ekatrinburg.

Six months after the czar disappeared, Admiral Alexander Kolchak, “Supreme Ruler” of the White Government in Siberia ordered Nicholas Sokolov to investigate. Following eyewitness reports, he found a site where bodies had been burned. He collected a box of ‘relics’, which included small bones which clearly showed axe marks. He concluded that the czar and his entire family had been killed and the bodies completely destroyed by fire and acid. His report published in 1924 created a furor across the world, since it was widely believed that the empress and the children were still alive. Skeptics argued that it is not possible to destroy eleven bodies by fire alone, but there were no bodies.

After eight years and no sign of the empress and her children, Moscow had to do some serious back-pedaling and published a Soviet version of Sokolov’s book. Its author, Pavel M. Bykov, admitted that Empress Alexandra and her children had been murdered along with the czar. However, in this version, he gave historians vital clues to the real location of the bodies.

Massie picks up the story when the bodies are discovered in 1991. His research rises above the chaos of lies, corruption and bureaucracy of several governments for over 70 years. Massie followed the process from the removal of remains and through the exhaustive DNA testing to find the conclusion that these remains were actually Nicholas II, family (minus two) and friends. There was almost as much drama in the scientific community as there was in Imperial Russia as different researchers clamored for a chance to test the bones, back-stabbing and criticizing each other.

But the biggest mystery remained. Where were the bodies of Alexis and Anastasia? The grave discovered in 1991 only held nine bodies when there should have been eleven. Almost from the beginning, shortly after the murders were discovered, rumors sprang up that some of the family had escaped with help from their executioners. Impostors appeared everywhere but were soon exposed as frauds. One exception however was Anna Anderson. In February 1920, a woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to Anastasia was pulled from the Landwehr Canal in Berlin. After she was placed in the Dalldorf Mental Hospital, another patient declared she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia. It’s interesting that a mental patient would be believed so readily. For six decades, Anna Anderson had as many people believing she was Anastasia as she had detractors. Massie describes the long arduous process after her death and the legal battles to have a tissue sample taken from Anna during a previous surgery (Anna was cremated immediately after she died). Eighty-nine pages later, the inevitable and anti-climatic conclusion was reached. Anna Anderson was NOT Anastasia.

So if the bodies of Alexis and Anastasia were not found with the rest of their family, where are they? Massie has a plausible theory. The box of relics gathered by Sokolov at the site of the burnings contains bones from two different bodies. After Sokolov collected the relics, he offered the remains to Nicholas II’s mother, who refused since she stoutly believed that her son and his family were still alive. He then traveled to England and offered them to Nicholas’s cousin King George V, who also refused them.

Sokolov went to Brussels and the box of relics is in the safe-keeping of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. The church has absolutely refused to allow anyone to inspect the contents of the box. They are mistrustful of Communists, the KGB and anyone from the West. Massie believes the remains of Alexis and Anastasia are in this box. At some point in the future, the box may appear and we will know the complete truth of the fate of Nicholas II and his family.

The Romanovs: The Final Chapter is one of the most fascinating historical books I’ve read. As I mentioned before, I couldn’t put it down until I had finished it.