The Book of All Power

Malcolm Hay is a young man in London about to become an engineer for a Ukrainian-English oil company in the period before the First World War. The novel is set between the period 1914 to 1919. The Chairman of the Ukrainian Oil Company suggests that he meet Israel Kensky, a wealthy and influential elderly Jewish Russian man, before departing. In London, Hay becomes embroiled in machinations and intrigues involving the Romanov monarchy. The Grand Duke Yaroslav, the Prince Serganoff, Kensky's daughter Sophia, Boolba, American gangster Cherry Bim, and the Grand-Duchess Irene Yaroslav become entangled in plots, conspiracies, and assassination plans. Serganoff, the Chief of the St. Petersburg Police, attempts to blackmail Irene into marrying him. He does this by arranging a police raid on the Silver Lion where the conspirators meet. The conspirators are known as the Foreign Friends of Freedom. Serganoff abducts Irene but is shot dead by Bim. Irene avoids arrest. Hay travels to Kiev in June, 1914 where he again encounters Kensky, who gives him a book, The Book of All-Power, that can allegedly turn men into puppets willing to do one's will. Hay also happens to meet Grand-Duchess Irene Yaroslav, a beautiful young Russian woman who values Israel Kensky. Irene becomes an unwitting part of a plot by an ambitious and ruthless Russian prince, Serganoff, and recrosses paths with the American gunman named Cherry Bim.