The Templar Legacy [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Brian Corrigan (Reader)

Book Description

The ancient order of the Knights Templar possessed untold wealth and absolute power over kings and popes . . . until the Inquisition, when they were wiped from the face of the earth, their hidden riches lost. But now two forces vying for the treasure have learned that it is not at all what they thought it was–and its true nature could change the modern world.

Cotton Malone, one-time top operative for the U.S. Justice Department, is enjoying his quiet new life as an antiquarian book dealer in Copenhagen when an unexpected call to action reawakens his hair-trigger instincts–and plunges him back into the cloak-and-dagger world he thought he’d left behind.

It begins with a violent robbery attempt on Cotton’s former supervisor, Stephanie Nelle, who’s far from home on a mission that has nothing to do with national security. Armed with vital clues to a series of centuries-old puzzles scattered across Europe, she means to crack a mystery that has tantalized scholars and fortune-hunters through the ages by finding the legendary cache of wealth and forbidden knowledge thought to have been lost forever when the order of the Knights Templar was exterminated in the fourteenth century. But she’s not alone. Competing for the historic prize–and desperate for the crucial information Stephanie possesses–is Raymond de Roquefort, a shadowy zealot with an army of assassins at his command.

Welcome or not, Cotton seeks to even the odds in the perilous race. But the more he learns about the ancient conspiracy surrounding the Knights Templar, the more he realizes that even more than lives are at stake. At the end of a lethal game of conquest, rife with intrigue, treachery, and craven lust for power, lies a shattering discovery that could rock the civilized world–and, in the wrong hands, bring it to its knees.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Berry goes gnostic in this well-tooled Da Vinci Code-knockoff, his fourth novel (The Romanov Prophecy). Ex-U.S. Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is intrigued when he sees a purse snatcher fling himself from a Copenhagen tower to avoid capture, slitting his own throat on the way down for good measure. Further snooping introduces him to the medieval religious order of the Knights Templar and the fervid subculture searching for the Great Devise, an ancient Templar archive that supposedly disproves the Resurrection and demolishes traditional Christian dogma. The trail leads to a French village replete with arcane clues to the archive's whereabouts, and to an oddball cast of scholar-sleuths, including Cassiopeia Vitt, a rich Muslim woman whose special-ops chops rival Malone's. Malone and company puzzle over the usual Code-inspired anagrams, dead language inscriptions and art symbolism, debate inconsistencies in the Gospels and regale each other with Templar lore, periodically interrupting their colloquia for running gun battles with latter-day Templar Master Raymond de Roquefort and his pistol-packing monks. The novel's overcomplicated conspiracies and esoteric brainteasers can get tedious, and the various religious motivations make little sense. (Thankfully, the author soft-pedals the genre's anti-Catholicism.) But lively characters and action set pieces make this a more readable, if no more plausible, version of the typical gnostic occult thriller. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The Knights Templar, a small monastic military order formed in the early 1100s to protect travelers to the Holy Land, eventually grew and became wealthy beyond imagination. In 1307, the French king, feeling jealous and greedy, killed off the Templars, and by 1311, the last master, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake. The whereabouts of the Templars' treasure--and their secrets--have been the subject of legend ever since. Now, a new thriller trieas to follow in the steps of The Da Vinci Code.

There's a secret about early Christianity at the core of Berry's Templar Legacy, but he dispenses the clues too slowly. The cat-and-mouse game between Cotton Malone, a former Justice Department agent, and a modern-day order of Knights Templar is weighed down with too much confusing backstory about the Templars' connection to Rennes-le-Chateau and the mystery that surrounds it. (The real-life town plays a part in The Da Vinci Code as well.) Like Dan Brown, Berry draws on the seminal nonfiction work Holy Blood, Holy Grail for many of his themes. After nearly grinding to a halt through all the premise building, the novel finally gathers steam in the last 100 pages or so, concluding with a revelation that seems refreshingly clear after the many convoluted twists that precede it. Until the next Dan Brown opus is released, this should hold devotees. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Random House Audio
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739341618
• ISBN-13: 978-0739341612
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (210 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,918,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steve Berry is the New York Times bestselling author of The Jefferson Key, The Emperor's Tomb, The Paris Vendetta, The Charlemagne Pursuit, The Venetian Betrayal, The Alexandria Link, The Templar Legacy, The Third Secret, The Romanov Prophecy, and The Amber Room --- as well as the e-book original short stories The Balkan Escape and The Devil's Gold. He has 12,000,000 books in print worldwide, translated into 40 languages and sold in 51 countries. He lives in the historic city of St. Augustine, Florida. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have founded History Matters, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving our heritage. To learn more about Steve and the foundation, visit www.steveberry.org.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The start of a promising new series, March 1, 2006

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Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Templar Legacy: A Novel (Hardcover)

Steve Berry has acquired a formidable reputation within the relatively short space of three novels. His latest work, THE TEMPLAR LEGACY, introduces readers to Cotton Malone, a former covert agent of the U.S. Justice Department.

The history of the rise and fall of the Templars, from a force created for the protection of Christian pilgrims to a society whose wealth and power equaled (and perhaps threatened) that of the Roman Catholic Church that they purportedly served, is fascinating even as it is shrouded in mystery. The primary questions about the Templars that have yet to be answered are: 1) How did the organization manage to acquire the power that it did? and 2) What happened to its much-rumored treasure, which was seemingly lost forever when the Templars experienced a rough disbanding at the hands of an alliance of convenience between church and state? Berry sends Malone on a wild chase to connect the dots in a tale that is equal parts cerebral and cataclysmic.

Malone finds himself drawn into the pursuit of the Templar legacy when what was supposed to be a visit with Stephanie Nelle, his former supervisor at Justice, turns into a purse snatching that ends when the perpetrator, after being cornered, commits suicide. It develops that the would-be thief is after a notebook of Nelle's late and estranged husband that has passed into her possession under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Nelle's husband had become famous writing a number of speculative works concerning European mysteries of the 14th century, including the disappearance of the Templar fortune. His notebooks and a seemingly innocuous manuscript appear to hold the key to the ultimate location of the treasure trove.

Malone and Nelle are in competition with others in a race to the treasure --- a race that includes the modern-day leader of the Templars, an organization that has continued to exist quietly, biding its time. Malone gets some assistance from unexpected sources, including an exotic and capable Moslem beauty with an agenda of her own and a Templar monk whose destiny appears to be forewritten in prophecy. As they draw closer to unearthing the treasure, however, Malone finds that the number of people whom he can fully trust becomes fewer and fewer, even as the path to the treasure, and the Templar legacy, grows more dangerous.

Berry has created a likable, capable, and ultimately believable character in Malone, one who is perhaps more competent cerebrally than physically, though he certainly is no slouch in either department. Malone's de facto alter ego --- after cashing in his retirement, he owns and operates a bookstore in Denmark --- is both intriguing and intrinsically ironic, a status quo that hopefully will be retained in future novels. THE TEMPLAR LEGACY thus simultaneously serves as Malone's introduction and keeps Berry's string of winning novels intact.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A RIVETING THRILLER..., August 11, 2007

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Templar Legacy: A Novel (Cotton Malone, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Once again, this author had me enthralled with his mélange of historical fiction, adventure, and suspense. As I have long had an interest in the Knights Templar, this book had me from the beginning, hook, line, and sinker. I was riveted. The plot is centered on the search for the reputed missing treasury of the Knights Templar, as well as an ancient Templar archive known as the Great Devise, which may conflict with accepted Christian dogma. While, as with others of the author's books, the plot may seem a bit far-fetched, it does not diminish the entertainment value of this work of fiction.

The book's central character, Cotton Malone, is a former operative for the United States government, now retired and living in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he operates a rare book store. When he is visited by his former boss, Stephanie Nelle, Cotton finds himself embroiled in the middle of a mystery that has lain dormant for centuries. It appears that the Knights Templar, long thought to have ceased to exist after they were exterminated in the fourteenth century, are alive and well and headed by a fanatic in pursuit of those clues that will lead them to the Great Devise, as well as the lost treasury of the Knights Templar of old. Ms. Nelle is believed by them to have some of the clues that will lead to that which is being sought.

Intermixed with the action and adventure is a good amount of information on the history of the Knights Templar, as well as the contradictions amongst the various Gospels in terms of the Resurrection. As with the author's other books, there are many twists and turns in the tale, which makes for a fast-paced, exciting story that is sure to grip the reader. Although the book is wholly plot driven, the short shrift given to character development does not diminish the capacity of this book to entertain the reader, so strong is the story line, which is quite complex and downright ingenious. I found myself compulsively turning the pages of this book, until the very last one was turned. Those readers who enjoyed Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code", as well as "Angels and Demons", will enjoy this intricately plotted thriller.

23 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars DaVinci Templars, December 14, 2006

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Linda Pagliuco "katknit" (CT, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Templar Legacy: A Novel (Hardcover)

The Templar Legacy is only a novel. The word is even part of its title. It isn't meant to be serious history, an anti-christian diatribe, or any of the other things so many readers seem bothered by. Yes, Cotton is a stupid name. No, the character devopment is rather poor. I read this book because of my interest in the Knights, Rennes, and the middle ages. But I expected it to be a light form of entertainment and that's what it is. Having read other Berry titles, I knew beforehand that he simply isn't a great writer. Dan Brown probably isn't either. Anyone who reads fiction hoping to learn real history will be mislead.