A Game of Soldiers - Softcover

Stephen Miller

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007231555 ISBN 13: 9780007231553

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006

Synopsis

An historical thriller, set in St Petersburg and Sarajevo in 1913. A Russian secret policemen, honest and bored with his royal guard duties, witnesses the death of a street girl. From this mundane beginning, a plot unravels which reveals the truth behind that famous assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, the trigger for World War One.

In St Petersburg, beside the glittering court life of the Romanovs, the parades and birthdays, the military displays and theatrical events, people are seething. It is not only the Bolsheviks but also the new men, the tycoons grown wealthy in the booming economy and the more vigorous aristocrats who are impatient with the idle, incompetent Romanovs. A small war would reveal the Tsar's hopelessness and enable them to replace him before the socialists became too strong. It would be easy to divert weapons to the Serbians, to fund a team of assasins. And so the conspiracy began.
It was the sudden restriction of information on the child murder from higher authorities first alerted Pyotr Ryzhkov , together with information from another prostitute, herself suspicious since she was part of the Bolshevik circle. As the investigation widens financiers, policemen, government officers, foreign diplomats, even the Minister of Justice seem to be involved in an ever larger circle of fraud and violence by Ryzkhov cannot discover the purpose. It's a killing he can't avoid that gives him the final clue and puts him under a death threat and leads to the desperate journey to Serbia.
The Field of Mars is a remarkably strong, interesting novel . The characters are varied and vivid – even those in the midst of the conspiracy can be justified – Russia had to be saved. The scenes, high life and low life, social and domestic, political and violent, are fascinating. The historical atmosphere, the sense of place and time, of the impending violent clash of nations in 1914 and the rationale of how and why the Archduke was assassinated are convincing. This is a perfect novel for all those who enjoyed Fatherland.

About this title

Review:

'A Game of Soldiers is an engrossing thriller in which an apparently unremarkable crime leads to the highest echelons of Russian society in 1913. With every twist and revelation, the suspense grows, and the reader is carried along by a narrative full of incident, character, and period detail. Stephen Miller paints in bold strokes on a large canvas. Once you start this book, you won't want to put it down.' Peter Robinson

‘Miller’s book is on a grand scale...a vivid reconstruction of the complex politics of the period.’ Sunday Telegraph

‘An alternative history to get your conspiracy theory brain sells working’ Ladsmag

‘This book is an exciting historical thriller, full of dark atmosphere that...holds the attention of the reader and leaves one wanting to know more...I await his next novel with anticipation.’ Yorkshire Gazette & Herald

‘...a conspiracy story with a difference.’ York Evening Press

‘...he writes in short sentences, striving after gritty realism...it is very authentic. Miller must know more about 1914 St. Petersburg than anybody else alive...’ The Historical Novels Review

About the Author:

Stephen Miller was born in the USA and now lives in Canada. After graduating from Virginia Military Institute in 1968, he moved to Vancouver to concentrate on creative writing and theatre, starting as a stage carpenter and working his way up to becoming an actor and scriptwriter. This is his first novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0007231555
• ISBN 13: 9780007231553
• Binding: Paperback