The House of Special Purpose

Anyone reasonably interested in early 20th century Russian history will immediately recognize the significance of this title. It is the name given to the house where Nicholas II and his family were killed in 1917 on Lenin's order. The plot of this extremely well-written bok posits that a motion picture film of the killing was made at the time, and then spirited out of Russia and eventually given to Trotsky during his exile in Mexico. In late 1941 the film seems to have reappeared and the agencies of many governments, the U.S., Great Britain, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union all want possession of this film, each for their own particular purposes. The protagonist from Mr. hyde's earlier book "a Gathering of Saints", Morris Black, is once again thrust into the middle of a very confusing situation. Once again, a young Ian Fleming is involved in the action, and there is another beautiful American woman who is teamed with Black in the search for the film. There are many actual historical characters in this book, along with the fictional ones, and the action is fast and furious. The climax comes in Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl harbor, which really makes for exciting reading. This is a page turner, and will probably keep you up much later at night to continue to read than you had originally planned.

This is one of those books that simply is meant to be a classic. The history, the characters, the immense volume of knowledge implemented in this novel is incredible. It is as good as Snow Wolf and The Berkut, which already are classics. It is 1941, before US has entered WWII. The British ask US for help in searching for a rumored film of the Romanov's killing. The trail leads through history and secret deals and it all involves the Russians and the Nazis. Whoever gets the film can change the course of the WWII history by putting Allies against each other. What an achievement!!!

The House of Special Purpose is a fun and exciting novel set in the days before World War 2. Hyde cleverly weaves real life people into the story, such as Wild Bill Donovan, and, most enjoyably, Ian Fleming, the man who would later write the James Bond novels, but here looks over the two spys who are out to find a film reel that supposedly captured the murders of the Russian royal family more than twenty years before. The story is told at a non-stop, page turning pace. Don't read Dan Brown--read Christopher Hyde!