Field of Mars

by Stephen Miller

In St. Petersburg, beside the glittering court life of the Romanovs, the Russian people are seething. It is not only the Bolsheviks but also the new tycoons profiting from the booming economy and the more aggressively ambitious aristocrats who are impatient with the idle, incompetent Romanovs. Pyotr Ryzhkov, probing the murder of a child prostitute, suddenly finds his enquiries deliberately hampered. As the investigation widens, financiers, policemen, government officers, foreign diplomats, and even the minister of justice seem to be involved in an ever-larger circle of fraud and violence. Then a killing gives Ryzhkov the final clue and leads to a desperate journey to Serbia.

Genres: Russia, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical

528 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Karen Magill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently read the novel by Stephen Miller entitled Field of Mars. It took me a while since it is such a large tome but it was well worth the time. From the moment Miller thrust me into 1913 Russia, I sensed that I was going to get a glimpse into a world that I had never seen. And I wasn’t wrong.

Miller introduces us to Pyotr Ryzhkov - a middle-aged, tired Russian policeman. Ryzhkov is on the scene when a young girl, dressed only in a night shift, falls from a window to her death. No one cares about this girl’s death; after all, she is just an underage prostitute trying to survive. However, Ryzhkov cares and he begins a search to find the girl’s killer.

Ryzhkov is a determined police officer trying to survive the politics of the time. During the investigation, Ryzhkov discovers and becomes entangled in an assassination plot. A plot that would change world history. He also discovers love and the entanglements that can cause.

Field of Mars is an exciting, thought provoking journey through an important part of history and I liked the way Miller focuses on characters that history would have forgotten. This is a book that reminds the reader of why we love to read.

[Norman Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is set in St Petersburg, Russia, in 1913-14, in the period leading up to the First World War. The protagonist, Ryzhkov, is a member of the Okhrana (the tsarist secret police) who investigates the death of a child prostitute and uncovers a deadly cabal.

The storyline is rather complicated and at times hard to follow. There are multiple viewpoint characters, some for only a single chapter, which makes it more disjointed than it could have been. Overall, though, Miller is able to keep the story moving and the viewpoint more or less clear.

The main weakness with the plot, in my opinion, is that some of the resolutions (there are several) are rather perfunctory. The murder of the child is wrapped up about a third of the way into the book. In Hitchcockian terms, it is a maguffin.

This is a first novel and I think it shows to a degree. There are some beautifully written passages but there are others that I think the author included to be more "authorly". I suspect his subsequent novels will be stronger with more experience.

[Ron McGuire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great it was not but it was an okay read. There is a lot of descriptive reading which reminded me of "War & Peace" where they describe the inside of homes, what people were wearing. I didn't see the story ending at the beginning of WWI.

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure why I read this whole book, too much writing for me, hard time to stay focused on the story itself.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murder and intrigue is the name of the game here. Set in pre-WW 1 Russia in and around the time of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which sparked the war. Conspiracy to overthrow the ruling Tsar, Nicholas, is thrown in for good measure. If this kind of thing spurs your interest then I suggest giving this a go.

[Martusha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book except for the ending. I like a happy ending where everybody lives happily everafter. I didn't really care for the character of the prince so the epilogue to me was "why are we ending with him"? Did the starcrossed lovers ever end up together?

[Diana Sandberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendid book, rich, very engaging. The immersion in a vastly different world is almost hypnotic, the kind of book that when you come up for air, going about your own life seems somewhat dreamlike for a bit. Very satisfying.