Cotton Malone and his fifteen-year-old son, Gary, are headed to Europe. As a favor to his old boss at the Justice Department, Malone agrees to escort a teenage fugitive back to England. After a gunpoint greeting in London in which both the fugitive and Gary disappear, Malone learns that he’s stumbled into a high-stakes diplomatic showdown-an international incident fueled by geopolitical gamesmanship and shocking Tudor secrets.
At its heart is the Libyan terrorist convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103, who is set to be released by Scottish authorities for ‘humanitarian reasons.’ An outraged American government wants that stopped, but nothing can persuade the British to intervene.
Except, perhaps, Operation King’s Deception.
Run by the CIA, the operation aims to solve a centuries-old mystery, one that could rock Great Britain to its royal foundations.
CIA Operative Blake Antrim, in charge of King’s Deception, is hunting for the spark that could rekindle a most dangerous fire: the one thing that every Irish national has sought for centuries-a legal reason why the English must leave Northern Ireland. The answer is a long-buried secret that calls into question the legitimacy of the entire 45 year reign of Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, who completed the conquest of Ireland and seized much of its land. But Antrim also has a more personal agenda, a twisted game of revenge in which Gary is a pawn. With assassins, traitors, spies, and dangerous disciples of a secret society closing in, Malone is caught in a lethal bind. To save Gary he must play one treacherous player against another-and only by uncovering the incredible truth can he hope to stop the shattering consequences of the King’s Deception. (taken from the author’s website)
Title: The King’s Deception, Author: Steve Berry, ISBN: 978-0-345-52654-0, Format: Hardback, $27.00 USA $29.00 Canada, Publisher: Ballantine Books, How I Read It: Hardback copy from Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Rating: 5 Crowns A ROYAL READ
My Thoughts:
Imagine that the American government knew a secret hidden in the depths of the Tudor past that would forever change the politics of Britain. Now imagine the lengths they would go to obtain the proof they needed to use it as a bargaining tool to ensure that a terrorist stayed imprisoned.
In the latest installment of Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone series, Cotton finds himself unintentionally embroiled in a CIA plot to blackmail the English government into forcing Scotland to keep the Lockerbie bomber imprisoned rather than releasing him for humanitarian reasons.
Told by Cotton Malone to his ex-wife after the plot was foiled, the story is a recap of the events that transpired mingled with a touch of Tudor history. While lives are on the line and national secrets need protecting, Cotton finds himself and his son dealing with a more personal problem, and an agent they are not sure if he is friend or foe.
This was my first Steve Berry novel and I must say that it will be not be my last. Drawing inspiration from the legend of the Bisley Boy, Berry writes an intriguing political thriller about the depths the American government will go to prove Queen Elizabeth I was a man and what the English government would do to make sure this world-changing secret was never revealed.
I was a bit worried coming into a series this established without having read any of the previous novels, but The King’s Deception was truly a standalone novel. This book was very MI-5ish, with a broad cast of characters that could either be the good guys or the bad guys and the descriptive scenery that pulled you onto the streets of London, I found that I could not put this book down.
Filled with history, mystery, assassins, secretive societies, and family drama, The King’s Deception is the perfect book for mystery fans and fans of Tudor history.
Not only will this book have you hooked on the adventures of Cotton Malone, it will have you pondering whether the legend of the Bisley boy was true.
So fix yourself a nice strong pot of Earl Grey and prepare to get lost in the intrigue of The King’s Deception.
1 comment:
I haven't read this book yet, but I am familiar with Cotton Malone, and Berry's "The Columbus Affair" which was published last year - I'm a big fan! A fast paced thriller with a history lesson thrown into the mix; brilliant. Last year I chanced upon an interview Elaine Charles (host of the book report radio show) had with Berry, and again by coincidence this past weekend, same show, same host - I thought it was a re-run, but there was Berry talking about the legend of the Bisley boy. What is interesting also, is that Berry wrote a short story as an introduction to this book; "The Tudor Plot", and even though The King's deception can stand alone, I think for the purist this short story might prove invaluable.
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