The Beast in the Red Forest

June 2, 2014
In Eastland’s engrossing fifth Inspector Pekkala novel, the fourth to be published in the U.S. (after 2012’s Archive 17), Joseph Stalin is worried, though the war is going well by early 1944. Pekkala, an Investigator for the Bureau of Special Operations in Moscow, vanished in 1941 after Stalin sent him on a secret mission behind enemy lines around Leningrad, “to determine the whereabouts of the priceless inlaid panels of the Amber Room, the greatest treasure of the Romanovs, last seen hanging on the walls of the Catherine Palace.” Though the missing inspector may well be dead, Stalin orders Pekkala’s assistant and longtime friend, Major Kirov, to find Pekkala and return him to Moscow. Meanwhile, an American autoworker who defected to the Soviet Union in 1936 has disappeared. Eastland (the pen name of British author Paul Watkins) delivers a surprise ending driven by grievances from the past, brutal betrayals, and the power of friendship.

June 15, 2014
The troubled and troubling Inspector Pekkala returns from exile to find himself trapped between giants at the end of World War II.For U.S. readers, this may be a confusing relaunch of a dynamic World War II spy series, but it's bound to make those new to Eastland (Archive 17, 2012, etc.) seek out his other books. To clarify: This is the fifth Inspector Pekkala novel, released by new publisher OPUS, but the fourth book in the series, The Red Moth, will be published after this one. Add to the confusion the fact that British spy novelist Eastland has been newly revealed as a pseudonym for American literary novelist Paul Watkins (Ice Soldier, 2005, etc.), and it all gets a bit murky. To catch up, Inspector Pekkala is a Holmes-ian fellow who was once personal detective to Czar Nicholas II and now reluctantly works for the Communists. As the book begins circa 1944, Pekkala has disappeared at the Western front and is presumed dead. Refusing to believe the inspector has perished, Josef Stalin assigns Pekkala's best friend and assistant, Maj. Kirov, to seek him out. While Kirov searches for Pekkala, Eastland also unfolds the eerie tale of William Vasko, a New Jersey steelworker who comes to Russia in 1936 seeking work and becomes trapped behind the growing veil of Soviet secrecy. When Pekkala surfaces, he's stalked by an icy German assassin who wants personal revenge, and he joins forces with a partisan warlord in an attempt to mitigate the bloody violence between the Russians and the partisan movement in the Ukraine. In a smart move, Eastland depicts his fictional Stalin as more than a James Bond villain, painting him as a conflicted, lonely tyrant whose retribution against slights both real and imagined makes him a very dangerous opponent.A complex and atmospheric thriller-perhaps not the best jumping-on point but a satisfying entry in a standout historical series.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2014

The distinguished author Paul Watkins (The Forger; The Story of My Disappearance), writing as Eastland, has issued the fifth title in his engrossing historical series (Eye of the Red Tsar; Archive 17) about Pekkala, the favorite inspector of the last tsar and of Joseph Stalin. The story picks up at the end of World War II, when the Red Army has succeeded in repelling the German onslaught. Stalin sends trusted lieutenant Kirov, to find Pekkala in the forests of western Ukraine. Though the world believes him to be dead, the revered inspector must be hiding there because his identifying medallion was never found. Kirov's pursuit makes for a vivid and grisly narrative of wartime escapades suffered by desperate solders and partisans fighting in the region. Unbeknownst to anyone is the steady progress of an American determined to avenge the Soviet betrayal of his family, which had moved to Russia in the 1930s to find work. VERDICT Intricately weaving true details from the pages of history with the fantastic exploits of Pekkala and Kirov, the author has nailed another successful Emerald Eye saga. Writing with innate literary grace, he gives this series an air of swashbuckling romance with many glints of depraved humanity.--Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
In the previous book in the Inspector Pekkala series, 2013's The Red Moth, Joseph Stalin sent Pekkala to locate the priceless wall panels of the famed Amber Room, which had been hidden away from the advancing German army. Now it's 1944, two and a half years later, and Pekkala is missing and presumed dead. But his partner, Major Kirov, doesn't believe it and is instructed by Stalin to find the missing man, no matter what it takes. Eastland, a recently revealed pseudonym for novelist Paul Watkins, builds suspense by introducing another storytold in a series of letters and memosof an American autoworker who moved to Moscow in 1936 and disappeared a year or so later. What, we wonder, does this man have to do with Pekkala? Eventually we find out, and we also discover the truth surrounding Pekkala's own disappearance. Fans of this gripping series of literary thrillers will be glued to their chairs until the final pages. A real corker.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)