Customer Reviews

The Venetian Betrayal

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I like Steve Berry.

Yes, his novels are implausible. No there is not a lot of character development. No one is going to read a Steve Berry novel and compare it to the literature they were forced to read in a college class in American literature.

But, biff, bam, boom, Steve Berry's characters make things happen. The action is continuing. You continually want to read another chapter, rather than fall asleep.

I think Berry's real talent is finding "holes" in authentic history and filling them with stories about what "could have" or "might have" been, or what didn't happen. He does this a with a bit more historical detail than does Clive Cussler (whom I also enjoy) with his Dirk Pitt novels.

And I have already bought another one to read. It seems like Berry can turn these things out about as fast as I can read them. GoodJob!

This is my first Steve Berry/Cotton Malone novel and I was not entirely knocked out by it. The story was intriguing, and the angle of reviving Alexander the Great's conquests in the modern world was certainly a fresh perspective in a geopolitical genre. But the end almost seemed a bit anticlimactic and wrapped up a bit too neatly for my tastes. The HIV/AIDS cure aspect was certainly an interesting subplot but truth be told I saw that coming after reading the prologue.

I understand other "Cotton Malone" novels are ranked better and might be persuaded to check out any one of those but I would have a hard time recommending to anyone looking for something with a lot of meat to the story.

If you're familiar with Steve Berry, you know that there's no way possible to read his novel and be bored. His books start moving, twisting and turning and just don't stop. In fact, in this book, one of the bad guys changes sides so many times; you're never really sure exactly where it all ends up... even when the book is finished and the problems & plotline solved.

The premise of this book is that Alexander the Great's tomb is within reach and the good guys are out to stop the bad guys from getting to the tomb and getting the goods to rule the world. Well, not exactly, just kill the world, but hey it's close enough in fictionland. The major evil-doer is obsessed with Alexander the Great, his mummy and the draught said to cure anything that ails the person who might drink it.

Cotton Malone is paired up with Cassiopeia Vitt to solve a world class problem. This time Cassiopeia has the complex problem and Malone is more or less pressed into service by his friend and mentor Thorvaldsen. The adventure starts in Copenhagen, but quickly runs to Venice and then to the Fictional Central Asian Federation (think Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan) and a far western portion of China.

The twists and turns in this book are truly amazing. Seriously, following the plot line from one place to another is truly exhausting. Berry has out done himself; I think he's taken the running all over the planet to a whole new extreme. The great thing about this is that so much is going on; the reader can't possibly solve the riddle. The bad thing about this is that there's so much going on that the reader risks losing interest in the whole thing. I found, in several places, that I simply began not to care what was going on at all and just reading to get finished with the whole thing.

If you like novels with a bit of adventure, you'll like this book. Keep in mind, though, that it's long and it's action packed and you may find yourself wondering just what the heck is going on at more than one point in the escapade. I gave this book 3 stars, not because it's not good, but because there's just too much going on all the time.

Cotton strikes again! I have been a fan of steve berry novels for awhile now and have read all of his books (except for the romanov prophecy - don't know why i keep meaning to pick it up) This is by far one of my ultimate favs from him, b/c i was so interested in the evolution of both Cotton and Cassiopeia and Alexander the Great is such a interesting backdrop for the both of them. Berry has a wonderful way of weaving history into current events and making you think......it's possible......I like how he has "writer's notes: separating fact from fiction" at the end of each of his novels, it shows a reverence for the history used to create the story (which i think most authors take for granted). Thanks Mr Berry!

I bought this book on a whim since I was running out of authors to read and wow, what a surprise. This author has a way to bring something from the past to current time and develop a exciting and fast pace chase trying to recover something long lost. I went to work the next day very tired because I couldn't put the book down to go to bed.

I bought this because I was intrigued by the book description, but I found the book very difficult to get into and kept getting stuck in the first 6 chapters. After about seven attempts I just gave up and put the book to the side. I'm not sure if the characters just didn't have the depth I was looking for or if they were not interesting enough to me...or perhaps it was the writing style. I am sure the book would have been a great read if I could just have gotten through it more. I read a whole genre of books so it's not because I'm drawn to just one subject - this was just not an easy read.

The narrative gets lost in this 540 page novel. Berry bounces all over the place, pausing now and then to deliver pages of descriptive history, science and local color...which mostly distract from the read. The book is also populated with so many characters I found myself not caring about any of them, heros and villains alike. I tried skimming it but even that was too much work, so I put it down short of 200 pages.

The Venetian Betrayal by Steve Barry

This is Cotton Malone's third adventure: A former Justice department agent turned rare-book dealer. He has grown quite a bit since The Templar Legacy. This time it is Cassiopeia Vitt's Story. She is searching for her boyfriend, Ely Lund, a ancient Greek historian and expert who has dissapp0eared while working for Irina Zovastina, The Supreme commander of The Central Asian Federation--a conglomerate of all the Central Asians Republics spun after the Soviet Empire disintegrated.

Malone learns from his friend Vitt, that museums all over Europe are burning to the ground as part of a campaign of arson intended to recover some elephant medallions that have a clue to the whereabouts of the exact location of Alexander the Great's last resting place.

Enter Enrico Vicenti, present leader of the powerful Venice council of Ten, who has amazed a fortune in pharmaceuticals and is an expert in viruses. He has an alliance with Irina--supplying lethal viruses--zoonosis--that are created from animal or plant sources. Irina plans to expand her empire by attacking neighboring Pakistan, Afghanistan and India by releasing chemical warfare. Vicenti worked with Saddam Hussein in Iraq, prior to the first Gulf war, and has amassed an arsenal that is quite useful for Irina's ambitions.

Cassiopeia and Ely are both HIV positive, just like Irina's lesbian lover Karin Walde. Unbeknownst to everyone, Enrico has discover an archaea--an organism that is a cross between a bacteria and a virus--that is a cure to viral infections. This was used by Alexander the Great to cure his viral fevers and Enrico has perfected it to cure HIV/AIDS.

The trauma draws Cotton into an intense geopolitical chess game against all of these shadowy cabals of power brokers. The prize lies buried with the mummified remains of Alexander the Great and his lover Hephasteon--a tomb lost to the ages for more than two thousand years--and whose clues are buried in the medallions.

Trekking from Venice to Central Asia, Cotton and Cassiopeia are determined to solve an ancient puzzle whose solution could destroy or save humanity--depending on who takes control of the tomb first.

A page turner, impossible to put down. One of the best thrillers I've read in a long time. Highly recommended.

Could not put this one down. Probably my favorite Cotton Malone series book so far. It was awesome. He just keeps getting better.

Wonderful entertainment. A definite successor to Clive Cussler. Well written. Descriptive passages about the country as like a travelog. Good characterizations. Great middle-aged hero.