Product Description

Cotton Malone is back and the stakes were never higher: a deadly virus that could wipe out civilisation as we know it – and a cure that lies buried in the past. The Venetian League, a secret group of 45 political and economic leaders from around the world, has joined forces with a coalition of former Soviet republics to create a potentially devastating biological weapon, a bird flu-like virus that has been artificially mutated to pass from human to human. Whoever develops the cure would control the future of global warfare. Yet that cure may have been discovered centuries ago, and if so the clue to the location of the formula lies buried with Alexander the Great. When Cotton Malone’s former companion Cassiopeia Vitt hears about it, she and Cotton join the hunt for Alexander’s long-lost tomb, and what at first seems to Cotton a wild quest for the answer to a perplexing historical riddle becomes a harrowing fight for truth that has unimaginable repercussions, both geopolitical and terrifyingly personal.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #310428 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Review

'Pure intrigue. Pure fun.'

(Clive Cussler on Steve Berry )

'A major twist... the puzzles are so much fun... radical thinking of the Gospels that's sure to spark some lively debate . . . pretty grabby stuff'

(Wall Street Journal on THE TEMPLAR LEGACY )

'Complex and fast-moving thriller writing, delivered with a great deal of dash, and shades of The Da Vinci Code'

(Good Book Guide on THE TEMPLAR LEGACY )

'Sexy, illuminating . . . my kind of thriller.' (Dan Brown on THE AMBER ROOM )

'Writes with the self-assured style of a veteran'

(Dan Brown )

'Not to be missed. Anagrams and complicated symbology... a complex, well-written, and extremely readable story.'

(Library Journal on THE TEMPLAR LEGACY )

'Steve Berry is a writer on the rise.' (David Morrell, author of NIGHTSCAPE and CREEPERS )

'Conspiracies and plots abound . . . Berry handles his thriller tradecraft skilfully, [and] his descriptions are stellar.' (Booklist on THE THIRD SECRET )

'International intrigue, swashbuckling action, indestructible hero from the American South. . . . Not to be missed.' (Kirkus Reviews, on THE ROMANOV PROPHECY )

About the Author
Steve Berry lives on the coast in Georgia, USA, with his wife and daughter. He is a lawyer who has traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, and Russia. His first two novels, THE AMBER ROOM and THE ROMANOV PROPHECY, were US bestsellers; his most recent three books, THE THIRD SECRET, THE TEMPLAR LEGACY and THE ALEXANDRIA LINK, were New York Times and international bestsellers. His books have been published in 39 countries and translated into 37 languages.

---

Customer Reviews

a fast moving gripping yarn that hooks the reader from page one
I have to admit that Steve Berry is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. He just does not disappoint his readers.

No. 6 in the Cotton Malone mysteries is not exception. As in the previous five novels Steve Berry offers the reader a fast moving plot linking present and past. It is a gripping plot from page No. 1 onwards. The plot is slightly weird and amusing: if one puts it very short: a power hungry dyke and head of state who fancied herself as the new Alexander the Great goes for world domination and an HIV cure to save her estranged and HIV infected lover. At the same time an equally power hungry financial cartel tries to dominate the world markets. All before the background of a new super power in Asia. There is enough background to make it not too unrealistic while at the same time keeps it clearly in the realm of a novel.

The chapters are short and easy to read and one simply wants to know what happens next. The main characters are the same as in books 1 to 5 and they develop further, becoming rounder and more human. It is not the so often lovingly portrait US vision of the (male) hero saving all on his own the world. Here it is a team, male and female, strong, but weak as well who fight the evil. But Steve Berry writes in such a way that one does not need to have read the first five novels in order to understand these characters. This novel is sequence but stands as well alone and makes perfect sense.

All in all, I just loved to be entertained by Steve Berry's writing: top notch. I am looking forward to his next novel.

Dan Brown Meets Ian Flemming?
This book has taken many elements from the two masters above but unfortunately its not in the same class. We have a secret society, The Venetian League, The Roman Catholic Church is of course involved, there is an evil women running an eastern state bent on power and obtaining it by using biological weapons, an evil man focused on being the richest man in the world, he has a newly constructed centre of operations complete with secret passages and hi-tech gizmos already for the Secret Services to blow-up, we have an ancient mystery - the search for Alexander the Great's body but even more a potion to cure all ills, even more ancient secrets of fire and water and of course the rogue, recently retired but still active if called upon to save the world American Secret freelance agent. Wow what a film.

The good guys are fighting for what else the US of A and can therefore go wherever they want whenever they want. The bad guys of course only want money & power and if possible the body of Alexander the Great - the ultimate good luck charm. It all sounds a bit much and it is. The story is also told in snappy, short chapters as we reel from one character to the next and unravel all the mysteries. What did I think, well its fun, the author certainly has an imagination and it would make a great movie. Is it a great book, certainly not, in the beginning I did not like the style as I was confused over who was who, but, as that becomes clear and the story hots up I could forgive the style. There is almost no character development and our heros and villans are cardboard cutouts. Having said that it's a diverting and sometimes interesting story, but, its all a bit over the top, and, black and white and the ancient mystery doesn't read true next time the author needs to focus on less and write more.

The Venetian Betrayal
This book is SO bad I can't believe it found a publisher, and having achieved that, where was the editor? It is incredibly badly written and peppered with split infinitives. Steve Berry doesn't seem to realise that the spoken word is different from the written word, so 'Like always' might be speech, but should never, as on page 113 be text. The characters are comic strip, and so thinly drawn and insubstantial that they never come to life. I have amazed myself by reading through to the end, but that is only because I hate to give up on a book. It was a very near thing with this one. Don't waste your money on such badly written trash.

Fiona Baile