THE ALEXANDRIA LINK by Steve Berry
Steve Berry has fast become the author most likely to give Dan Brown a run for his audience. Since he burst on the scene with the thrilling THE AMBER ROOM he has consistently a written fast-paced and well researched stories about history and the world. His latest THE ALEXANDRIA LINK is his best novel yet and is even faster-paced and better researched than any of his other books.
Cotton Malone was the hero of Berry's THE TEMPLAR LEGACY and he returns in this story. He is a retired intelligence agent of sorts who now makes his living as a seller of books in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is there that the story opens when Cotton's ex-wife Pam bursts on the scene and tells him their son Gary has been kidnapped.
It seems that Cotton is the only person who knows the identity of a person who is a link to the missing "library of Alexandria." Some ruthless people are looking for this "link." When they learn Cotton has this information they figure kidnapping his son will force him to reveal the identity, but of course nothing is that easy.
The subsequent turn of events have Cotton and Pam rushing headlong into danger in locales in Europe and in Africa. And as they go they are pursued by an evil person who wants the knowledge the Alexandria Library contains.
The most impressive aspect of Berry's writing is that he makes the plot and all of its machinations believable. You have to read the comments by Berry at the end of the book in order to know which parts of his story were true, which were based on truths, and which were totally fiction.
In this book he also seems able to give more detail to his characters. They seem more three dimensional and more engaging. The relationship between Cotton and Pam is a very complex one but Berry reveals fact after fact about the two of them individually and as a couple, and makes the reader buy it all.
Berry is also able to keep several stories going at the same time. We follow Cotton and Pam in their pursuits but we also deal with Cotton's ex-boss Stephanie as well as his friend Henrik. Both of these people are involved in other facets of this mystery and get their fair share of story time in order to completely engage the reader in their lives too. This three-pronged storyline is the equivalent of keeping three balls juggled in the air. To Berry's credit he never drops a single one at any time.
For readers who like a mystery based on historical facts this is a monumental fiction experience. Berry has taking the legend of the "Alexandria Library" and created a whirlwind adventure that will keep you guessing and gasping until the very end of his book.
If you liked Berry's other books, well you are going to be blown away by this one. And if you have never read any of Berry's work you are going to fast become a Berry addict. This is one of the big adventure novels of 2007 and Steve Berry is one of the year's brightest writers.
THE ALEXANDRIA LINK is published by Ballantine Books. It contains 384 pages and sells for $25.95.