Monday, February 12, 2007
The Alexandria Link: A Novel by Steve Berry
From Booklist:
Berry, author of several big-selling high-concept thrillers, including The Templar Legacy (2006) and The Third Secret (2005), is back with another paranoid fantasy for fans who like their heroes to face unimaginable dangers in a variety of glamorous locations. Berry's hero, Cotton Malone (recently retired from the Department of Justice's Magellan Billet, which specializes in extra-sensitive international investigations), has reinvented himself as a seller of rare books in Copenhagen. Trouble, of course, finds him even in Denmark--first in the person of his ex-wife, who bears the news that their son has been kidnapped. Then the kidnappers convince Malone of their seriousness by torching his bookstore. The central conflict here comes from the fact that what the kidnappers want--"the Alexandria link," the key to locating the remains of the vanished library of Alexandria--is the one thing Malone, who knows the whereabouts of the link, cannot give them. So, with the conflict firmly established, and the villains showing their mettle, the plot is off and running across the globe, the story driven by a series of short chapters, each acting as a little time bomb. Trite characters and a formulaic plot (drawing, yet again, on The Da Vinci Code) get in the way, but Berry does make intriguing use of ancient history, and the action certainly zooms along. Fun reading if you keep moving and don't take time to digest. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (January 30, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345485750
ISBN-13: 978-0345485755
Customer Review: 5/5
Labels:
Mystery and Thrillers
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Monday, February 12, 2007
The Alexandria Link: A Novel by Steve Berry
From Booklist:
Berry, author of several big-selling high-concept thrillers, including The Templar Legacy (2006) and The Third Secret (2005), is back with another paranoid fantasy for fans who like their heroes to face unimaginable dangers in a variety of glamorous locations. Berry's hero, Cotton Malone (recently retired from the Department of Justice's Magellan Billet, which specializes in extra-sensitive international investigations), has reinvented himself as a seller of rare books in Copenhagen. Trouble, of course, finds him even in Denmark--first in the person of his ex-wife, who bears the news that their son has been kidnapped. Then the kidnappers convince Malone of their seriousness by torching his bookstore. The central conflict here comes from the fact that what the kidnappers want--"the Alexandria link," the key to locating the remains of the vanished library of Alexandria--is the one thing Malone, who knows the whereabouts of the link, cannot give them. So, with the conflict firmly established, and the villains showing their mettle, the plot is off and running across the globe, the story driven by a series of short chapters, each acting as a little time bomb. Trite characters and a formulaic plot (drawing, yet again, on The Da Vinci Code) get in the way, but Berry does make intriguing use of ancient history, and the action certainly zooms along. Fun reading if you keep moving and don't take time to digest. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (January 30, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345485750
ISBN-13: 978-0345485755
Customer Review: 5/5
Labels:
Mystery and Thrillers
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I started to pick up a book by Steve Berry the other day. I've never read one..........I think I will.
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you think of it once you read it. :)
ReplyDelete-Laura