Ekaterinburg, Russia: July 16, 1918. Ten months have
passed since Nicholas II's reign was cut short by revolutionaries.
Tonight, the White Army advances on the town where the Tsar and his
family are being held captive by the Bolsheviks. Nicholas dares to
hope for salvation. Instead, the Romanovs are coldly and
methodically executed.

Moscow: Present Day. Atlanta lawyer Miles Lord, fluent in
Russian and well versed in the country's history, is thrilled to be
in Moscow on the eve of such a momentous event. After the fall of
Communism and a succession of weak governments, the Russian people
have voted to bring back the monarchy. The new tsar will be chosen
from the distant relatives of Nicholas II by a specially appointed
commission, and Miles' job is to perform a background check on the
Tsarist candidate favored by a powerful group of Western
businessmen. But research quickly becomes the least of Miles'
concerns when he is nearly killed by gunmen on a city plaza.

Suddenly Miles is racing across continents, shadowed by nefarious
henchmen. At first, his only question is why people are pursuing
him. But after a strange conversation with a mysterious Russian,
who steers Miles toward the writings of Rasputin, he becomes
desperate to know more–most important, what really
happened to the family of Russia's last tsar?

His only companion is Akilina Petrov, a Russian circus performer
sympathetic to his struggle, and his only guide is a cryptic
message from Rasputin that implies that the bloody night of so long
ago is not the last chapter in the Romanovs' story . . . and that
someone might even have survived the massacre. The prophecy's
implications are earth-shattering–not only for the future of
the tsar and mother Russia, but also for Miles himself.

Steve Berry, national bestselling author of the phenomenal thriller
THE AMBER ROOM, once again delves into rich historical fact to
produce an explosive page-turner. In THE ROMANOV PROPHECY, the
authentic and the speculative meld into a fascinating and
exceptionally suspenseful work of fiction.

© Copyright 2005 by Fawcett Books, a division of Random House,
Inc.