Customer Reviews

The House of Special Purpose

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I fell in love with Hyde's 3 previous historical thrillers, 2nd Assassin, Wisdom of the Bones, and The Gathering of Saints. House of Special Purpose however was below average. It started out good, but just did not have the thrilling narrative that the previous 3 thrillers possessed. What they had in spades this one has barely enough. It was interesting however, as Hyde's historical thrillers are, the conspiratorial pose set amongst real historical figures and events lends these books a great tangible feel. The JFK assassination, and the Battle of Britain. This Hyde thriller just didn't quite pull it off. I enjoyed it and finished, but just didn't love it, I guess it had big shoes to fill.

The House Of Special Purpose by Christopher Hyde is an entertaining historical thriller but it is not as good as some of this author's previous works (eg., Wisdom Of The Bones, The Second Assassin, A Gathering Of Saints, etc.). The plot involves the search by various international spies (Russia, Germany, England and the U.S.) for a film rumored to exist from the bloody days of the Bolshevik Revolution. This film could have a major impact on the balance of power in the war that is sure to involve the U.S. In typical Hyde fashion, his story is filled with real events, historical figures and true-to-life atmosphere that allowed this reader's interest to be held throughout the book. However, The House Of Special Purpose does not provide the level of sustained suspense that I found to exist in Hyde's other books. To me, Hyde made the book longer than it needed to be to be truly suspenseful in order for him to incorporate as many of the research findings as possible he uncovered about the people and events surrounding this period. It's not that these historical facts aren't interesting. They are, but at the same time they tended to detract from the excitement of the plot. As a consequence, while this book started off as if it would warrant a rating between 4-5 stars, by the time I finished it, I felt it did not deserve more than a 3 (possibly 3 1/2) star rating. Overall, The House Of Special Purpose is a good book and one that you'll probably enjoy if you like historical thrillers. It just does not live up to the high expectations I've come to expect from this author.

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!