The King's Deception

September 30, 2013
In Berry’s contemporary thriller, when series hero Cotton Malone goes to England with his teenage son, Gary, he gets entwined in a bizarre CIA operation involving a secret that dates back to the time of the Tudors. Along the way, Malone must deal with assassins, secret agents, and members of a fanatical cult, and his angry ex-wife. Narrator Scott Brick skillfully handles all this, handing in a performance that is controlled, well paced, and features slightly nasal narration that smoothly shifts between American and British accents. References to events in 16th-century England are interspersed with descriptions of modern-day spy work—and Brick delivers them all sedately, with an appropriately stiff upper lip. A Ballantine hardcover.

March 18, 2013
In bestseller Berry’s tepid eighth Cotton Malone thriller (after 2011’s The Jefferson Key), the ex–secret agent agrees to escort a juvenile thief in CIA custody, 15-year-old Ian Dunne, to England, as a favor to his former boss, Stephanie Nelle. Conveniently, Malone, who now runs a used-book store in Copenhagen, is planning to pick up his 15-year-old son, Gary, from his ex-wife in Atlanta for a European visit. Shortly after Malone and the two boys land at Heathrow, Ian and Gary are kidnapped. Malone begins a deadly chase that ricochets between 1547 and the present day and centers on a historical mystery involving Elizabeth I. All the elements of a Da Vinci Code adventure are in place: a traitorous CIA agent, ancient treasure, secret codes, and a mysterious, elderly head of the British Secret Intelligence Service; but unfortunately these components function more as teasers for the undeniably fascinating historical material, rather than as a launching pad for genuine thrills. 8- to 10-city author tour. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House.