The King's Deception

Overview

Cotton Malone is back!
 
A behind-the-scenes political fight between the United States and England has the unintended result of landing Cotton Malone’s son, Gary, in the hands of a man with a dangerous personal agenda. It also forces Malone to come face-to-face with a baffling historical mystery: a long-buried secret that throws into question the legitimacy of the entire reign of Elizabeth I—a revelation ...

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The King's Deception

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This item will be available on June 11, 2013.
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More About This Book

Overview

Cotton Malone is back!
 
A behind-the-scenes political fight between the United States and England has the unintended result of landing Cotton Malone’s son, Gary, in the hands of a man with a dangerous personal agenda. It also forces Malone to come face-to-face with a baffling historical mystery: a long-buried secret that throws into question the legitimacy of the entire reign of Elizabeth I—a revelation with explosive modern-day consequences.

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  • The King's Deception
    The King's Deception  

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

As avid Steve Berry fans know, Cotton Malone is a former secret agent who just wants to lead a quiet life as a Copenhagen used bookstore owner. Fortunately for thriller readers, he never gets the chance. At the outset of his eighth fictional incarnation, he is simply doing a good deed, transporting a juvenile thief to England, but that innocent act rapidly entangles him in a case that stretches back five centuries and involves a kidnapping, Elizabethan secrets, long-hidden treasures and codes, a terrorist cabal, and a traitorous CIA agent; not necessarily in that order. A suspenseful novel that begs to be a movie.

Publishers Weekly
In bestseller Berry’s tepid eighth Cotton Malone thriller (after 2011’s The Jefferson Key), the ex–secret agent agrees to escort a juvenile thief in CIA custody, 15-year-old Ian Dunne, to England, as a favor to his former boss, Stephanie Nelle. Conveniently, Malone, who now runs a used-book store in Copenhagen, is planning to pick up his 15-year-old son, Gary, from his ex-wife in Atlanta for a European visit. Shortly after Malone and the two boys land at Heathrow, Ian and Gary are kidnapped. Malone begins a deadly chase that ricochets between 1547 and the present day and centers on a historical mystery involving Elizabeth I. All the elements of a Da Vinci Code adventure are in place: a traitorous CIA agent, ancient treasure, secret codes, and a mysterious, elderly head of the British Secret Intelligence Service; but unfortunately these components function more as teasers for the undeniably fascinating historical material, rather than as a launching pad for genuine thrills. 8- to 10-city author tour. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House. (June)
Kirkus Reviews
Berry (The Columbus Affair, 2013, etc.) mixes Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and terrorists into Cotton Malone's eighth adventure. Malone is retired from the Magellan Billet, the U.S. Justice Department's supersecret unit. He now owns a Copenhagen bookstore. Malone's been summoned to Atlanta, his ex-wife's home, where she's shocked their son, Gary, with a buried secret: Malone isn't his biological father. Gary's angry. He wants to spend time in Copenhagen. Aware of his trip, Malone's former Magellan boss asks him to escort a runaway street kid to London. Ian Dunne witnessed a CIA agent's death. Berry's narrative catalyst was a real-life headline--Scotland's release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. The CIA isn't happy, and the British government won't act. The Malones and Dunne no sooner have their feet on the ground in London than they're kidnapped by agents working for Blake Antrim, of the Brussels-based CIA special operations counterterrorism team. Antrim is scheming to use a Tudor-era conspiracy involving Elizabeth I that reflects on the current monarchy's legitimacy to pressure the Brits to stop the release. Post–Malone kidnapping, there are escapes and evasions, all transpiring while Antrim's crew also opens Henry VIII's tomb in Windsor Castle's St. George's Chapel. Next, hard-charging Kathleen Richards of England's Serious Organized Crime Agency jumps into the whirlwind. Tudor-era rumors manipulating terrorist negotiations may seem realpolitik overkill, but it's ample ammunition for Berry's cinematic action to ricochet through castles, manor grounds and London's Underground while involving a professor assassinated but not dead, scholarly twin sisters and Sir Thomas Mathews, the British SIS's Machiavellian chief. Antrim's efforts are apparently stymied by the Daedalus Society, an ancient monarchy-preservation group, but then he succumbs to a bribe. Sir Thomas dissembles, manipulates and murders; Antrim's self-interest manifests; a secreted manuscript encoded by Robert Cecil, Elizabeth I's confidant and secretary of state, is deciphered; Bram Stoker's nonfiction work is cited, and Malone, the teenage boys and Richards survive more entrapments and gun battles than humanly possible. A Dan Brown-ian secular conspiracy about The Virgin Queen driving nonstop international intrigue.
From the Publisher
Praise for The King’s Deception
 
“A Dan Brown-ian secular conspiracy about the Virgin Queen driving nonstop international intrigue.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
Praise for Steve Berry
 
“Berry raises this genre’s stakes.”—The New York Times
 
“I love this guy.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child
 
“Forget Clancy and Cussler. When it comes to this genre, there is simply no one better.”—The Providence Journal
Library Journal
In Berry's eighth book (after The Columbus Affair) starring Cotton Malone, the aging former agent turned bookseller is pulled yet again into a conspiracy to rewrite history. Retirement from private security/international affairs and a Danish address aren't enough to keep Malone out of trouble when he agrees to transport a fugitive to England. Malone and his teenage son, Gary, become ensnared in a plot that links Malone's ex-wife's affair, Libyan terrorists, and Elizabeth I of Shakespeare's era. Gary teams up with Ian, a wily London street kid who unwittingly pickpocketed key evidence moments before a murder. Malone must identify his real enemies and solve the mystery to save his son and himself. VERDICT Berry's fans expect action interspersed with unbelievable shockers from the past and just enough historical fact to make the incredible plots seem possible. They won't be disappointed here as his hero continues to do battle with history and those who would kill to keep its secrets buried. [See Prepub Alert, 11/12/12.]—Catherine Lantz, Morton Coll. Lib., Cicero, IL
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780345526540
  • Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
  • Publication date: 6/11/2013
  • Pages: 432
  • Sales rank: 172

Meet the Author

Steve Berry

Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of The Columbus Affair, The Jefferson Key, The Emperor’s Tomb, The Paris Vendetta, The Charlemagne Pursuit, The Venetian Betrayal, The Alexandria Link, The Templar Legacy, The Third Secret, The Romanov Prophecy, and The Amber Room. His books have been translated into 40 languages with more than 15,000,000 printed copies in 51 countries.
 
History lies at the heart of every Steve Berry novel. It’s this passion, one he shares with his wife, Elizabeth, that led them to create History Matters, a foundation dedicated to historic preservation. Since 2009 Steve and Elizabeth have traveled across the country to save endangered historic treasures, raising money via lectures, receptions, galas, luncheons, dinners, and their popular writers’ workshops. To date, nearly 2,000 students have attended those workshops. In 2012 their work was recognized by the American Library Association, which named Steve the first spokesman for National Preservation Week. He was also appointed by the Smithsonian Board of Regents to serve on the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board to help promote and support the libraries in their mission to provide information in all forms to scientists, curators, scholars, students and the public at large. He has received the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award and was named, in 2005, Georgia Author of the Year.
 
Steve Berry was born and raised in Georgia, graduating from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University. He was a trial lawyer for 30 years and held elective office for 14 of those years. He is a founding member of International Thriller Writers—a group of more than 2,000 thriller writers from around the world—and served three years as its co-president.
 
For more information, visit www.steveberry.org.

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