When Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile in 1821, he took to the grave a powerful secret. As general and emperor, he had stolen immeasurable riches from palaces, national treasuries, and even the Knights of Malta and the Vatican. In his final days, his British captors hoped to learn where the loot lay hidden. But he told them nothing, and in his will he made no mention of the treasure. Or did he?
Former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone is about to find out when trouble comes knocking at his Copenhagen bookshop. Actually, it breaks and enters in the form of an American Secret Service agent with a pair of assassins on his heels. Malone has his doubts about the anxious young man, but narrowly surviving a ferocious firefight convinces him to follow his unexpected new ally.
Their first stop is the secluded estate of Malone's good friend Henrik Thorvaldsen. The wily Danish tycoon has uncovered the insidious plans of the Paris Club, a cabal of multimillionaires bent on manipulating the global economy. Only by matching wits with a terrorist-for-hire, foiling a catastrophic attack, and plunging into a desperate hunt for Napoleon's legendary lost treasure can Malone hope to avert international financial anarchy.
But Thorvaldsen's real objective is much more personal: to avenge the murder of his son by the larcenous aristocrat at the heart of the conspiracy. Thorvaldens's vendetta places Malone in an impossible quandary - one that forces him to choose between friend and country, past and present. Starting in Denmark, moving to England, and ending up in the storied streets of Paris, Malone plays a breathless game of duplicity and death, all to claim a prize of untold value. But at what cost?
Here's what I think...
First, I love Berry. I have never read a book by him that didn't grab and hold me from the very beginning. Until now. I wanted to love this book as I had all his others - but I just couldn't. The focus was less on the power play and more on the personal vendetta side and I didn't enjoy that quite as much.
As always, he always intertwines little factoids about history, which I love, and even separates real from what he concocted at the end. Those writer's notes are one of the things I love about him! There was enough action, intrigue, and back stabbing to make it a decent read, but for me, being such a fan I was a little disappointed.
Sadly (and I hate to do it!) I have to give it only a 2 - it was just O.K. for me.
~ Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~ Author Unknown
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