The Red Gods by Christopher Nicole
The Russian Saga Series
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Price: $3.99 (as of 02/19/2015 at 5:30 PM ET).
Russia, 1919. The country is convulsed in a terrible civil war as the newly installed Communist government of Nikolai Lenin and his principal henchman, Leon Trotsky, confront the reactionary "White" armies commanded by generals loyal to the now dead Tsar Nicholas II. It is, like most civil wars, a brutal and savage conflict, with atrocities on both sides, with families split by their differing situations and ideals. At least as eager to regain their ancestral lands as to restore the Tsar, Prince Alexei Bolugayevski of Bolugayen, and his son and heir Colin, are fighting for the Whites in the south. While on the side of the Reds is Prince Alexei's ex-wife Sonia — now mistress to Trotsky. Into this maelstrom comes another member of the family, Joseph Cromb, brought up in England, and now seeking some trace of his mother the Countess Patricia, supposedly murdered by the Reds in 1918.
But when he joins Alexei and Colin, he is captured and taken by the Reds and tortured until Sonia begs for his life. Inevitably, he beds the beautiful woman, before returning to the Whites with a promise to keep her son alive. When he returns Alexei instead sends him to Priscilla, putting him in loco parentis of his wife and children and as the White Army are retreating, he is killed. Meanwhile, Duncan Cromb has also died, leaving his daughter and Joseph's sister, Jennie, alone. Joseph returns home, with Priscilla but it is not long before Russia catches up with them when they are visited by Gosykin. He invites them back to Russia, but in support of the Reds …
Jennie is tempted and before long, Gosykin has seduced her and convinced her to join him so he can use her a propaganda symbol. Colin is now living in Paris, with his sister Anna who he is also in love with. He is the only thing in the way of the Red army, and Gosykin's job is to eliminate him. Joseph and Priscilla split: Joseph in search of his sister Jennie and Priscilla to Boston, to protect her son. Sonia and Trotsky are on the run and being hunted by the Reds.
What will happen to Anna, left weeping over Colin's body? And what will happen to young Alexei, now the Prince Bolugayevski? Will Jennie ever be rescued, will Joseph find her before losing his own life?
— The Red Gods by Christopher Nicole
