Book Review: “The Venetian Betrayal” by Steve Berry

Genre: Thriller

“The Venetian Betrayal” is #3 in the Cotton Malone series. I am back on track after reading an ARC of #12 “The Lost Order”.

Cotton Malone is a retired Department of Justice Magellan Billet special operative. He owns a book store in Copenhagen.

On his way home after a meeting of the Danish Antiquarian Booksellers Society he decides to check on the place he was to meet Casiopeia Vitt in the morning. The Museum of Greco-Roman Culture is an unimpressive museum, but, the door is open much to Cotton’s surprise. He decides to be a good citizen and close the door. He will call the police when he gets home.

Ooops….

Waking up with a nasty headache, Cotton realizes he is locked in the Museum and the damn building is on fire! to make matters even worse…..the flames are spreading unnaturally fast and the fire is unnaturally hot, instantly turning everything in it’s path to ash.

Luckily for Malone….Vitt is there (staking out the place in advance of their meeting) and she saves his ass.

This incident starts the events that follow including: Malone, Vitt, Thorvaldsen, Alexander the Great and his tomb (or supposed tomb), a secret organization in Venice (The Venetian League), the Supreme Minister of the Central Asian Federation (Irina Zovastina), valuable and very rare medallions (emblazoned with a secret code), Greek fire, biological warfare and a cure for AIDS.

Whew!

At 540 pages (paperback) “The Venetian Betrayal” is a rousing, non-stop, action-packed, adventure that will determine the fate of the world: If Cotton fails….millions of innocent people will die.

To see what happens, you will have to read the book. 😉

A great read! 🙂