First World War Blockbuster

Mary Ann Puhek on March 28, 2014

Actually, William Condie said it all in his five brief lines describing this book (see his review below.) The book is the result of years of intensive research on a wide variety of subjects relating to the First World War, a vivid imagination and a flair for writing, all presented as background in recounting the adventures of one fictional person - Alex Fanshawe. I usually don’t bother with fiction, but this book, using settings of historical significance such as the famous Second Battalion Grenadier Guards on the Western Front World War trenches and the murder of Rasputin and the Romanov Emperor and his family, is a resounding exception. It is laced with detailed and little-known background on a wide range of fascinating subjects carefully researched and impossible to find covered in one book about the period covered - the First World War. I found it fascinating and hard to put down. While I have not yet finished reading it ( it is well over eight hundred pages), I can envisage it as the subject of a dramatic, romantic movie - or maybe two. I shall miss it when I have finally completed all 73 chapters. All I can say is “bravo, John Browne - a terrific story beautifully told."

A fascinating book of what might have been

S. McGinn on July 7, 2014

This was a great book. The author has mixed true history with fiction seamlessly. I had to check myself a couple of times that this was a novel, not a history book. It's a fast, fun read. Keeps you one the edge of your seat. I didn't want to put is down.

A marvelous slice of history

William Condie on March 24, 2014

Wonderful.
An education.
A great read.
Browne brings a confusing period of history to life. The book is more fact than fiction.

GREAT read! Browne's description of WW1

Elaine Learson Schoch on August 9, 2014

GREAT read ! Browne's description of WW1... be it the politics within Europe,warfare in the trenches and in the air, the spirit of The Grenadier Guards is not only brilliantly factual but simply gripping. Against this backdrop, The Bank of England, a mysterious account linked to the Romanovs ending with a romantic tale of a young woman carrying the alias of Sasha Orlov. Best read this summer!

MORE COMPELLING THAN DR. ZHIVAGO

Walter M. "Marty" Cummins Jr., President
Florida EB-5 Investments LLC, A USCIS Designated EB5 Visa Regional Ctr

I rarely read works of fiction. My preference is history and biography, but as a bookdealer I am always open to a work that promises to give me a taste of history or biography in a novel setting. HIDDEN ACCOUNT OF THE ROMANOVS delivered that combination in a way that I have not seen since Paternak's Dr. Zhivago. Indeed, without giving away too much of the story, I found the love story at the center of the work far more compelling, believable and thoroughly romantic than that found in Zhivago. In fact, I would like to provide more of a comprehensive review, but the story has so many turns, twists, surprises and shocks that I am reluctant to review much of the plot. I want future readers to enjoy the roller coaster ride as much as I did by experiencing all the excitement as the plot unfolds. Let me say this, though. I tend to skim or speed read works of fiction, and I did a bit of that in the 1st half of the book, but once I hit the midpoint, I read every word (which I have not done in years) and literally could not put the book down. I finished it in a marathon of about 20 hours and am now waiting for the sequel that simply must come. I have never read a story that combined so well living history, compelling portraits of historic characters, and an absorbing love story of such tender passion - I fell in love with the main characters and I want more of them. Please give us a sequel that solves the many mysteries that remain, and please, please, please take this to Hollywood. This is one story that deserves a 21st Century period costume epic, if Hollywood still knows how to do those.

Hidden Account of the Romanovs Review

by Private Hobbins.J.R.

"Could,nt put the book down. !! At last, !! I understand that we entered the WW1 because of a pact with Belgium. !! Never did understand why Arch Duke Ferdinand being assassinated in Sarajevo started a World War. !! You brought the Romanovs to life, !!.... the Russian revolution, !!.... Rasputin..!!.... The birth of the R.A.F........ !! Your book was entertaining, instructive, I did learn so much, I gained so much from the content and your characters were so real.!!...no wonder when they were men I served with, bestest mates, and, not forgetting “ME”....... “Fame at last” !! Cannot say much more, people had best buy the book, its, truly, worth every penny and a lot more besides. It has earned a permanent place on my book shelves..!! I wish you continued success with your writing ....”Onward and upward, Sir” !!!

Hidden Account of the Romanovs Review

Margi Helschien
CEO and President of Capitol Charter Consulting Group

"I received your book the other day and cannot put it down. As you immerse yourself into each page you feel as though you are there. The book is exciting and historically very accurate. The Romanovs are from an amazing period of our history. You might think that a book about the historical implementations of hidden money and a cast of characters that were all executed would be boring, but you will be surprised how interesting this book is."

Hidden Account of the Romanovs Review

by Bill Condie

Wonderful.
An education.
A great read.

Frozen Account of the Romanovs Review

by Gillian Wilkerson

"I read your wonderful book: "Frozen Account," and want to let you know how much I enjoyed reading it! It's a 'page-turner' of adventure and a great way to learn history 'in the making,' as it were. You mixed fact and fiction in an artful way. I actually found it hard to concentrate on anything else and found myself constantly thinking what was going to happen next. When will the sequel come out!"

Frozen Account of the Romanovs Review

by Margo Rapp

"I just had to let you know that I loved Hidden Account of the Romanovs. Took me two weeks to read it but, unbelievably, as soon as I finished it all I wanted to do was read it again! What a story! Thank you for writing it."

Hidden Account of the Romanovs Review

by Caroline Swann

"Hidden Account of the Romanovs... is a book ,one must run do not walk to read, it is a stay up all night page turner filled with action packed scenes of the history of World War I , the world of banking, finance and the Russian Imperial Romanovs. The characters spring to life and your style of writing captivates the reader with a sense of being there, feeling the emotions of the characters and viewing the scenes in such a way one never wants the book to end. On a scale of 1 to 10...this book is a 10+. "

‘Hidden Account of the Romanovs’ banks on action

‘Hidden Account of the Romanovs’
Author: John Browne
Publisher: iUniverse, 848 pages, $38.95

By Jack Markowitz
Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014, 8:00 p.m.

Every dictator has a Swiss bank account, or so we assume, his insurance policy against what he really deserves — the boot.

Maybe even a legitimate ruler, the last Russian tsar, stashed away rubles and rubies in Switzerland before being murdered by Communists in World War I with his queen and all their kids, which left no heirs to all that compound interest piling up like snow in the Alps.
But wait. Was every last princess actually slaughtered in that orgy of bloodletting perhaps ordered, but without fingerprints, by Lenin himself?

Such is the mystery that triggers John Browne’s novel, “Hidden Account of the Romanovs.” The title perhaps suggests a tale too bankerly. In fact, it’s packed with action.

Fictional hero Alex Fanshawe dodges shrapnel (but not all of it) in the horrors of the trenches, then again in the bullet-spitting skies of the early Royal Flying Corps. Just the resourceful fellow for British Intelligence to send to St. Petersburg to assassinate Grigory Rasputin. The sinister monk schemed to get Russia out of the war with Germany, thus an obvious threat to the Brits. A younger Churchill and Stalin take supporting roles in Browne’s reconstruction of bloody 1914-20, a time frame that correctly grafts Russia’s civil war onto the “war to end wars.”

How ironic that Browne’s novel, close, personal and suspenseful, seems more real and even more informative than most histories of those infuriatingly futile conflicts.

The author should be no stranger to Trib Total Media readers. He’s the retired soldier and parliamentarian who, as Sunday business columnist, warns of land mines ahead if central banks (like our Fed) keep cheapening their countries’ currencies.

Jack Markowitz is a columnist for Trib Total Media.

Read More : http://triblive.com/aande/books/6676472-74/account-browne-war#ixzz3D8as06Q0.