The Romanov Cross

From the author of Blood and Ice, a spellbinding new take on one of history's most profound mysteries, and a thrilling race against time.

Fascinating, funny, and frightening...Masello skilfully weaves together the story of the death of the Russian royal family with the possibility of a new worldwide influenza pandemic... Toss in a pack of slavering wolves, the undead, and a chilling ending, and the result is a terrific, can't-put-it-down read'

A delicious sense of creeping dread permeates the first act, greatly enhanced by its setting in the stark but beautiful landscape of northwestern Alaska... Tense, taut and impossible to put down

Robert Masello is an award-winning journalist, television writer, and the author of many previous books, most recently Blood and Ice. His articles and essays have appeared often in such publications as the Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, People and Parade, and his nonfiction book, Robert's Rules of Writing, has become a staple in many college classrooms. His television credits include such popular shows as Charmed, Sliders and Early Edition. He lives in Santa Monica, CA.

Almost a century ago, a desperate young woman crawled ashore a desolate Arctic island carrying a mysterious emerald-encrusted cross and a terrible secret. 
 
In the present day, Army epidemiologist Frank Slater is facing a court-martial, but after his punishment is mysteriously lifted, Slater is offered a job no one else wants — to travel to a small island off the coast of Alaska and investigate a potentially lethal phenomenon: The permafrost has begun to melt, exposing bodies from a colony that was wiped out by the dreaded Spanish flu of 1918. Frank must determine if the thawed remains still carry the deadly virus in their frozen flesh and, if so, ensure that it doesn't come back to life. 
 
The colony, it transpires, was once settled by a sect devoted to the mad Russian monk Rasputin, but there is even more hiding in the past than Frank’s team is aware of. By the time Frank discovers that his mission has been crashed by a gang of reckless treasure hunters he will be in a brutal race against time. 
 
With his signature blend of fascinating history and fantastic imagination, critically acclaimed author Robert Masello has once again crafted a terrifying story of past events coming back to haunt the present day . . . and of dark deeds aching to be unearthed.

Blood and Ice

A force stronger than death awakes from the frozen depths... A stunning supernatural thriller set in Victorian England and modern day Antarctica

A stunning thriller... Blood and Ice will chill you to the bone.

Lisa Gardner, bestselling author of Say Goodbye

If H.G Wells, Stephenie Meyer and Michael Crichton co-wrote a novel, the result would be Blood and Ice

The ingredients of vampirism, doomed romance and Antarctic adventure are too seductive to resist. Masello has written a winner, destined for Hollywood

This big, meaty, supernatural thriller spans centuries and continents from Victorian England and the Crimean War to modern Americaa and Antarctica. Gripping

[An] exceptional supernatural thriller...The thrills and, most decidedly, the chills mount to a believable, sad and hopeful ending. Fans of John Campbell's 'Who Goes There?'-the basis for the movie The Thing-will find much to like.

This fascinating adventure on The Ice really captures the feeling you sometimes get down there, that anything can happen. The science, romance and danger of Antarctica are all well conveyed, and merge into the thrill that is the true Antarctic experience.

Kim Stanley Robinson, author of Antarctica

Masello is a true master at blending cutting edge science, historical intrigue, and riveting thrills. Blood and Ice is... a riotous mix of history, cryogenics, vampirism, and a chilling adventure set in the Antarctic.

James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Oracle

Robert Masello is an award-winning journalist, television writer, and the author of many previous books, most recently the supernatural thrillers Vigil (which appeared on the USA Today bestseller list) and Bestiary. His articles and essays have appeared often in such publications as the Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, People and Parade, and his non-fiction book, Robert's Rules of Writing, has become a staple in many college classrooms. His television credits include such popular shows as Charmed, Sliders and Early Edition. He lives in Santa Monica, CA.

When journalist Michael Wilde is commissioned to write a feature about a remote research station deep in the frozen beauty of Antarctica he is prepared for some extraordinary sights. But on a diving expedition in the polar sea he comes across something so extraordinary to be almost unbelievable - a man and woman chained together, deep in the ice. The doomed lovers are brought to the surface but as the ice begins to thaw the scientists discover the unusual contents of the bottles buried behind the pair, and realise they are all in terrible danger...

Robert Masello

A wonderful treat... He takes care to craft well-rounded characters; even subsidiary figures have interesting backgrounds and believable motivations...One last bravura flourish...proclaims Masello a master entertainer unafraid to pull out all the stops, as gifted in his own way as the Florentine artist whose biography is so beguilingly embellished in The Medusa Amulet

Masello chucks everything he can at the story, taking readers on a breathless history tour from the Medici dynasty to the French Revolution to the Third Reich. The result is a fast-moving caper...

A fascinating and unconventional new thriller

Florence 1538 
 
Artist Benvenuto Cellini creates the Medusa Amulet: a work of unimaginable power - and menace. The amulet can grant immortality to any who stare into it on a moonlit night, but it soon falls into the wrong hands. 
 
Chicago, the present day 
 
Art historian David Franco's beloved sister Sarah is dying. When a mysterious widow offers him a million dollars to find the legendary amulet, David seizes the chance to pay off Sarah's medical bills - and offer her a chance of survival. 
 
The result is a desperate race against time that will take him across centuries and continents, from American archives to Renaissance courts, from the ramparts of the French Revolution to the dark depths of the Nazi party. 
 
And there are others who have heard of the amulet's powers and they will stop at nothing to find it...

Robert Masello

Praise for The Medusa Amulet

A wonderful treat... He takes care to craft well-rounded characters; even subsidiary figures have interesting backgrounds and believable motivations...One last bravura flourish...proclaims Masello a master ...

Masello chucks everything he can at the story, taking readers on a breathless history tour from the Medici dynasty to the French Revolution to the Third Reich. The result is a fast-moving caper...

A fascinating and unconventional new thriller

A wonderful treat... He takes care to craft well-rounded characters; even subsidiary figures have interesting backgrounds and believable motivations...One last bravura flourish...proclaims Masello a master ...

Masello chucks everything he can at the story, taking readers on a breathless history tour from the Medici dynasty to the French Revolution to the Third Reich. The result is a fast-moving caper...

A fascinating and unconventional new thriller

A wonderful treat... He takes care to craft well-rounded characters; even subsidiary figures have interesting backgrounds and believable motivations...One last bravura flourish...proclaims Masello a master ...

Masello chucks everything he can at the story, taking readers on a breathless history tour from the Medici dynasty to the French Revolution to the Third Reich. The result is a fast-moving caper...

A fascinating and unconventional new thriller

Books by Robert Masello

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