How did he do it? There’s little doubt that he was a remarkably brazen and cunning man who exploited the gullibility and superstition of those around him. In that respect, the tsarina was his prime dupe. Throw in a touch of hypnosis (which has been medically demonstrated to reduce the amount of clotting factor needed by hemophiliacs to stop bleeding) and a young heir to the throne who hovered close to death for most of his short life, and Rasputin’s bewildering rise to power is easier to understand.
As for entrainment, the scientific basis for Leo’s machine exists. Entrainment is real. The grid box and the zombie room are real, as is the huge grinder at Lefortovo Prison. The Yale scientist and his remote-controlled bull are real. In the spring of 2012, the Russian Defense Minister publicly announced that mind-bending “psychotronic” weapons that can turn people into zombies have been given the go-ahead by President Putin. The potential to induce and control different emotional states has been achieved by implanting electrodes into the brains of animals and, it is rumored, of humans too. What hasn’t been achieved—yet—is doing it wirelessly.
I wouldn’t want to bet against it becoming a reality in the not-too-distant future. . . .
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are two very different sides to writing these books: one is uncompromisingly solitary, while the other is social and collaborative. I enjoy both—locking myself away with my characters and getting lost in their worlds; and bouncing ideas and plot threads off friends and colleagues along the way. Both sides feed each other, and I’m lucky to have a great bunch of people around me for the latter.
For this book, I’d particularly like to thank Jessica Horvath, Jemima Forrester, and Jon Wood for their inspired editorial guidance. I’d also like to thank my friends and agents old and new, Eugenie Furniss, Jay Mandel, Michael Carlisle, and Richard Pine.
About the Author
RAYMOND KHOURY is the New York Times bestselling author of The Devil’s Elixir, The Templar Salvation, The Last Templar, The Sanctuary, and The Sign. Also an acclaimed screenwriter, he lives in London. Visit his official Facebook page or www.raymondkhoury.com for more information and further reading.
Rasputin's Shadow Page 39
