The Holmes Factor (Sebastian Holmes Series #2) »

Brian Freemantle is the author of over 30 books, which have sold more than ten million copies worldwide. He lives in England.

The second in the successful Sebastian Holmes series, following The Holmes Inheritance. It's just weeks from the outbreak of the First World War, a conflict few expect to erupt. If it does, Russia is pivotal. But Russia, having survived one abortive revolution, seeths with unrest. Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin plot a second. The hypnotic monk, Rasputin, has ingratiated himself sufficiently with the Tsar and Tsarina to dictate government policy. Will Russia fight? Will the Romanov dynasty be overthrown? If they are, will Britain accept them in exile? To answer such questions upon which British war policy depends Sebastian Holmes, son of the legendary Sherlock Holmes, is despatched to St Petersburg, where he infiltrates the revolutionaries and the imperial court. There, the unpredictable chief of the Tsar's secret police tries to manipulate Sebastian for personal reasons. As does his contact in the British embassy in which Sebastian discovers spies for both Russia and Germany and by whom he is betrayed into giving a false assurance that threatens his own life.

Publishers Weekly

The mundane title gives no hint of the rich panorama of events chronicled in British author Freemantle's second thriller (after 2004's The Holmes Inheritance) starring Sebastian Holmes, Sherlock's audacious son. In 1913, amid suspicions of German meddling in Russia's growing unrest, Sebastian travels to St. Petersburg in the guise of a journalist to check the British legation's rosy reports that all is well under the czar. Sebastian soon learns that all is not well, as he's imprisoned by the secret police, attacked by a crowd of urchins and bombed as he enters the offices of Pravda to meet Josef Stalin. Meanwhile, Britain's inept ambassador, Sir Nigel Pearlman, hoping for a cushy job in London, overlooks all sorts of treason and intrigue among his own staff. Somewhat implausibly, the young sleuth manages to connect with every important Russian of the pre-WWI era, from Grand Duke Orlov, head of the powerful imperial police, to Alexander Kerensky, speaker of the fledgling parliament, all while having a torrid affair with a princess. Still, Freemantle provides literate and thoughtful escapist fare. Agent, Ann Evans at Jonathan Clowes (U.K.). (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.