The Venetian Betrayal (Cotton Malone Series #3)

Once again Malone gets pulled into some secret goverment plots

Lots of twists and turns, great history of Alexandra the Great, a corrorupt goverening facility, and lots of action. Again, this was one I listened to and think you would get more out of reading it. There were times I got a little lost in the history and confused on people, but over not a bad story.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Highly recommended

There are some missing pages!

A good read as good as the other Cotton Malone Series

A good series read, Almost as good as the Clive Cussler books,

James rollins character painter crowe

His character Painter Crowe is mentioned in the book, and it excites me knowing these two authors obviously know each other. They are both really good, and ive read all of Rollins books, so its fitting that i should read those of a friend of his.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Another great Steve Berry page-turner!!

In typical Berry style, thrilling twists, engaging characters and panoramic vista descriptions all wrapped up in an all-too-believable plot. And who doesn't love Cotton Malone?? Loved this entry that I could hardly put down! Would so enjoy this series on the big screen...

Another great story!

This is the first 'series' I have delved into beginning with Cotton Malone #1 and it just keeps getting better. Steve Berry spins a great tale and I find it difficult to put it down. A must read for adventure fans!

Sliding toward comic book status?

I previously read 4 of Steve Berry's books, inlcuding the first two Cotton Malone novels. Greatly enjoyed the historical threads/conspiracy plots. However, each book seems to be becoming more and more farcical, with the body count rising higher than those in the old 1960s Sgt Rock comic books. It's hard enough sometimes to maintain credibility with any kind of historical conspiracy, but when you have people killing people as often as one swats a fly, the whole premise rapidly collapses into absurdity. I think Steve Berry can do better.

If you loved Dan Brown, you will love Steve Berry

Loved it!

SPY THRILLER

This book is basically a spy thriller. Most of the characters are rather shallow. It is not on the level of some of Steve Berry's earlier books (particularly "The Romanov Prophecy" and "The Templar Legacy"). Nevertheless, the geopolitics is plausible. The history of this area, both ancient and while under the heel of the Soviets, is interesting. Historical aspects of Alexander the Great, both real and imagined, are also interesting to include speculation on the disappearance of Alexander's mummified body.

The setting is the Central Asian Confederation consisting of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The plot revolves about the intent of the tough, nationalistic, megalomaniac, Irina Zovastina, Supreme Minister of the Central Asian Confederation, to inflict biological warfare on nearby countries (Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) to create or restore a kingdom reminiscent of that of Alexander the Great. The characterization of Zovastina as an amoral monster on the one hand and a nationalist deeply sympathetic toward and proud of her people on the other hand gives this character some depth. Cotton Malone, the former State Department operative, must stop Zovastina and save a big chunk of the world, rescue an agent with whom he would like to have a romantic interest, and find the biological antigen (first discovered by Alexander the Great) by following clues left by Ptolemy. I'm a fan of Steve Berry. This isn't his best work but the geopolitics and ancient historical context made the read interesting and enjoyable.

I LOVE HIS BOOKS

This book was as good as the other books that Steve Berry has written. The plot was interesting especially about the diseases.

If only there was a cure!

Pretty good read and the fact that it addresses a cure to a disease that plagues our society makes it even more interesting! This is my 3rd Berry book and he tends to get LONG WINDED but overall the stories are good. The main character is no Robert Langdon but not a dweeb either!

great read

as with most of his books interesting , fast reading and characters who you can identify with. Have read all of Cotton Malone series and enjoyed each one.

Quick pace.

Chapters short. Quick pace. Didn't want to put the book down. Kept my interest. Will be checking out his other works. Recommended for those that need to escape from life's responsibilities for a few hours.

Just couldn't get through it

I'm an avid reader. In all my years there have been only two books I simply couldn't finish; this was one of them. This read more like an encyclopedic recitation of questionable facts with a few poorly developed, unlikeable characters thrown in to add murder and excitement. It failed on excitement, on plot and on character development. Save yourself - avoid this book.

Berry Scores Again

In the relatively short time I have been reading Steve Berry's books, he has become one of my top five favorite authors. I enjoy the historical research and information included in them. I find them entertaining and difficult to set aside for other tasks.

Enjoyed the story and historical items, even if they aren't all true, which I don't know for sure.

Good read for historical type fiction.

Steve Berry keeps churning out winners!

I was definitely not dissapointed with this offering. Berry has a great way of building up the action through to the end. He even provides for some nice clean-up after the climatic finally. I enjoy the humanistic sub-plots he injects in to the stories so that it is not just an action junkey novel. It is a book readers novel.

The new Dirk Pitt

Cotton Malone has become the next generation of Dirk Pitt. Steve Berry has become the successor of Clive Cussler. His hero is human and his storytelling is excellent.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Moves Quickly

I really enjoyed this book - this is my first Steve Berry novel and will have to read more of, and I really enjoy a book where there's a puzzle to try to figure out to put things together - its a great read...

Viktorious

I am not a dumb person. Like the author, I am an attorney, but I found this book to be a confusing mess. The history of Alexander the Great fascinates me, as apparently it does Mr. Berry. I found the plotline hard to follow, the characters woefully unexplained,and in the end, I think Mr. Berry played one too many tricks on the reader to make his story come together. In that respect, I did not mispell the title of my review, but wanted to avoid any spoilers.