The novel was written by Frederick Ferdinand Moore who drew on his experience in Siberia as an intelligence officer with the US Army during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.

Twenty years later, the boy, now Lieutenant Peter Gordon of the US Army, returns to his hometown and seeks to avenge the killing of his father.

The novel continues down a twisting path of intrigue where the ruling Cossacks, Korsakoffs and Gordon scheme to each seek their objectives while never knowing who to trust.

Moore knows that of which he writes, and has told a dramatic story of peasants, convicts, exiles, revolutionists, Cossacks, and, through all the struggling ideals of almost voiceless Siberia."

"[7] Oakland Tribune: "Moore has used the chaotic state of affairs in Russia following the revolution to make possible some events that have a dramatic and convincing appeal.