The Patriot Threat

January 26, 2015
Bestseller Berry comes up with a highly unusual premise for his 10th Cotton Malone thriller (after 2014’s The Lincoln Myth): a historical flaw in the U.S. income tax code has the potential to destroy the country’s economy. In Berry’s timely what-if scenario, North Korean leader Kim Yong Jin has been dropped from the line of dynastic succession because of a disgraceful abortive trip to Tokyo Disneyland. Kim, now known as a playboy, sees an opportunity to regain his former glory when he stumbles on a 1936 mystery involving then secretary of the treasury Andrew Mellon and president Franklin Roosevelt. Kim’s accidental but fortuitous reading of a book about the American tax code, The Patriot Threat, written by tax resister Anan Wayne Howell, puts him on the path of the mystery, which he, along with his warrior daughter, Hana, are determined to solve, no matter how many people they have to kill to do so. Fans of political conspiracy fiction will find plenty to like. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House.

October 15, 2014

Beloved Berry protagonist Cotton Malone is asked to track down a rogue North Korean possibly possessing some hush-hush Treasury Department files. The plot hinges on whether the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which legalizes federal income tax, was properly ratified. A one-day laydown.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2015
A powerful North Koreana (fictional) son of former dictator Kim Jong-ilplots to destroy America. His weapon: highly classified, incendiary U.S. Treasury Department files that he has recently acquired through, shall we say, violently improper channels. And even though it strains credibility just a bit, only Cotton Malone, the retired intelligence operative, can stop the madman. The latest Malone thriller offers the usual ingredients: likable hero, despicable villain, plenty of action, and a story that draws on a historical mystery and conspiracy. Here, Berry tackles a subject that is much debated by a small segment of the American population even today, the notion that the American federal income tax system might be illegal. Keep in mind, please, that this is a novel, not a treatise, and Berry can have his characters say and do whatever he likes. That said, he presents a plausible if wildly unlikely scenario, plausible enough that we realize Cotton Malone isn't just trying to stop a madmanhe's trying to save the U.S. A solid entry in an entertaining and wildly successful series. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With 19 million copies sold, Berry's high-concept thrillers have proved irresistible to readers in 51 countries and across 40 languages. His latest will leave the starting blocks with a 400,000-copy announced market distribution.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)