Customer Reviews

MURDER OF THE ROMANOVS, THE

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I sat down and read this book in one night. I had bought this book as a I thought it was going to contain a breakthrough in the Romanov story (the topic of my Honours thesis) I was however sadly disappointed. While it was good to read it was altogether too short, it lacked depth and detail. Cook glossed over various details of the execution and bungled disposal of the bodies present in the works of other Romanov historians like Edvard Radzinsky or Helen Rappaport. Further the main attraction of the book - the MI5 aspect and the tracking down of Yurovsky was more than disappointing, the interview with the head executioner was only briefly mentioned and when it appeared in the appendix it was easy to see why, yes the interviewer had met him but had not actually even talked to him about the execution - so I am not quite sure how it was supposed to further our knowledge about the execution. One good aspect of the book though is that it is one, if not the only book published about the Romanovs since the discovery of Alexi and Anastasia (or Marie) in 2007, and as such it features the DNA proof that the remains were the Romanovs. Plese find this is also not a well edited book with several punctuation mistakes and spelling errors (including names inconsistently spelt) and the Journal articles in the bibliography are missing issue numbers

No really new information here and several mistakes that make me wonder about how well researched and editied this book was. Author claims Anna Anderson said she was in Berlin looking for Nicholas's sister Irinia. Nicholas did not have a sister Irinia and it was actually Alexandra's sister Princess Irene of Prussia that Anna Anderson claimed to be looking for in Berlin. Author also claims Nicholas was a second son. He was first born son but had a younger brother, Alexander, die at less than a year old. Author refers to Prince Ioann as a Grand Duke - kind of a big deal since Ioann was first Romanov effected by Alexander III's decree that only sons & grandsons were entiltied to Grand Duke title. Also incorrect date for a well know picture of Nicholas, Alexandra and their daughters - Anastasia is a baby and Alexandra is dressed in mourning for Queen Victoria. I have read almost every Romanov book available and I found this one disappointing

I couldn't bring myself to finish this book. In the first few chapters, I found a number of glaring mistakes - Nicholas, as has been noted by another reviewer, did not have a sister named Irina; Khodynka Field disaster took place after the Coronation in 1896, not after the wedding in 1894, and other mistakes earlier reviews have already remarked. I'm not sure why the book starts by discussing Anna Anderson, already an acknowledged hoax. Cook wrote that Alexei, because of his haemophilia, was not allowed to swim or play in the water, but in the photo section, there is a picture of Alexei doing exactly that. I also noted an error in the photo section - Cook identified Alexei as one of the grand duchesses, while dressed in his uniform with medals, and very short hair. By the middle of chapter three, I didn't think it was worth going further. Even if there is 'new information' that is accurate, how could the reader tell? There are so many errors. There is no bibliography, so no way to verify anything. I am also curious to know why this book is coming out NOW, so long after the bodies of the Romanovs have been found and identified.

I think the Romanovs deserve better than this.