The Kaiser's Web (Cotton Malone Series #16)

by Steve Berry

Overview

In New York Times bestseller Steve Berry’s latest Cotton Malone adventure, a secret dossier from a World War II-era Soviet spy comes to light containing information that, if proven true, would not only rewrite history — it could impact Germany's upcoming national elections and forever alter the political landscape of Europe.

Two candidates are vying to become Chancellor of Germany. One is a patriot having served for the past sixteen years, the other a usurper, stoking the flames of nationalistic hate. Both harbor secrets, but only one knows the truth about the other. They are on a collision course, all turning on the events of one fateful day — April 30, 1945 — and what happened deep beneath Berlin in the Fürherbunker. Did Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun die there? Did Martin Bormann, Hitler’s close confidant, manage to escape? And, even more important, where did billions in Nazi wealth disappear to in the waning days of World War II? The answers to these questions will determine who becomes the next Chancellor of Germany.

From the mysterious Chilean lake district, to the dangerous mesas of South Africa, and finally into the secret vaults of Switzerland, former-Justice Department agent Cotton Malone discovers the truth about the fates of Hitler, Braun, and Bormann. Revelations that could not only transform Europe, but finally expose a mystery known as the Kaiser’s web.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250140340
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/23/2021
Series:	Cotton Malone Series , #16
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	64,959
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.40(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

STEVE BERRY is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of more than fifteen Cotton Malone novels and several stand alones. He has 25 million books in print, translated into 40 languages. With his wife, Elizabeth, he is the founder of History Matters, which is dedicated to historical preservation. He serves as an emeritus member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board and was a founding member of International Thriller Writers, formerly serving as its co-president.

Editorial Reviews

11/16/2020

At the start of bestseller Berry’s thrilling 16th Cotton Malone novel (after 2020’s The Warsaw Protocol), former U.S. president Danny Daniels travels to Bavaria at the request of Marie Eisenhuth, the pro-American German chancellor. In a police station interrogation room, he meets Hanna Cress, a shadowy Belarussian operative, who hands over an envelope containing some GPS coordinates. Cress says the coordinates indicate a place Daniels is supposed to visit, but she doesn’t know why. Then she lights up what turns out to be a cyanide-laced cigarette; just before expiring, she utters the word Kaiser. The meeting comes in the midst of a contentious German national election in which Eisenhuth faces a vigorous challenge from an anti-immigrant candidate with a murky past. Daniels contacts Malone, a former agent for a clandestine division of the Justice Department, and asks for his help to insure Eisenhuth’s reelection. Malone’s mission takes him and the de rigeur attractive female partner to Chile. Berry skillfully lays out yet another tantalizing historical what-if, this one connected to Hitler’s last days in his bunker below Berlin. Fans of over-the-top action yarns will be pleased. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Kaiser's Web
"[Berry's] most ambitious and relevant thriller to date. A no-holds-barred, high-stakes romp with echoes of class spy novelists like John le Carré, Len Deighton, and Alistair MacLean….This is a dream read for the unabashed thriller aficionado, a story stitched along classic lines that never disappoints in laying out a riveting and relentless tapestry.” — Providence Journal

"Berry skillfully lays out yet another tantalizing historical what-if.” — Publishers Weekly

“Berry keeps finding enticing alternate-history mysteries for Malone to solve . . . Keep ‘em coming.” — Booklist

"Ominously up-to-date." — Kirkus Reviews

"Steve Berry does it as well as anyone in the historical thriller / alternative history genre. . . Filled with mystery, history and intrigue, twists and turns that keep your head spinning until the very end, The Kaiser’s Web is a wonderfully informative, entertaining and fast-paced novel. This is a worthy new chapter in the Cotton Malone series!" — Mystery and Suspense Magazine

“Another thrill-ride, with lots of twists and turns that keep the reader on their toes.” —Red Carpet Crash

From the Publisher

09/01/2020

In Cotton Malone's latest case, a newly surfaced dossier from a World War II-era Soviet spy could impact the race for Germany's chancellorship between a longtime public servant and a nationalist ranter. With a 350,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal

2020-11-27
The rise of a neo-fascist with deep roots in the Third Reich pulls not-exactly-retired Justice Department agent Cotton Malone back for a 16th round of international intrigue.

A specter is haunting Europe. No, not the coronavirus but Theodor Pohl, an insurgent German nationalist who’s set his sights first on toppling long-serving chancellor Marie Eisenhuth, then on making the Fatherland great again—really, really great. Barely have Malone and his lover and comrade in arms Cassiopeia Vitt dusted themselves off from their leap from their mortally wounded plane in Poland on a single parachute than ex-President Danny Daniels is packing them off to Chile to investigate rumors that Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun, and Martin Bormann didn’t all die in that bunker in 1945; at least one of them escaped to South America with billions in Nazi gold. The trip to Chile produces some eye-popping revelations and whittles down the cast, but instead of settling matters for good, it propels Malone and Vitt to South Africa for further investigations among people determined to be left alone until their time has come. Meanwhile, back in Germany, the chancellor realizes that she’s being undermined by not only Pohl and his ruthless acolyte, Josef Engle, but her xenophobic husband, Kurt Eisenhuth, whose past is even more checkered than she knows. Cannily mixing historical research with florid inventions that fill in gaps and sometimes fly in the face of the available evidence, Berry presents an ominously up-to-date world whose frenzied nationalism is a direct descendant of the Thousand-Year Reich.

Hitler may not live, but Heil Hitler is alive and all too well.

Kirkus Reviews