So… Another Cotton Malone thriller… a shortie… This is one of Steve Berry’s novellas… Always a fun quick read… Using some alternate history Berry draws us in quickly with scandalous and salacious intrigue. While he could have pulled this novella in to a full on book… the plot was defiantly meaty enough… the quick pace of it made it a fun quick read. The only criticism I have is the “translated texts” pretty much derailed the flow of the story. I found them to be unnecessary. While this would make a great movie I don’t know if the general public would accept the whole alternate history… might be a little hard to set up for the masses. Definitely read before The King's Deception… not a big deal if you don’t (I read them out of order) but I think it would make the The King's Deception a little more fun. I like this book, it was entertaining an fun. It does start out slow like most of Steve Berry's book that I have read.I do like that Steve Berry tends to use misdirection. I was able to figure few things prior to the end but I was still surprised. Even if you guess who is involved in the cliffhanger usually the reasoning behind it will be different than you expect. I love historical fiction, and if you do as well then you will enjoy it as well. If you aren't a fan you would do well to choose another book because the dates and references to history might overwhelm you. All in all a good easy read for a lazy day or a change of pace from you are currently reading.
This novella (e-book bonus) was attached to King's Deception. I actually like this story better.
—fishhy
I usually love Cotten Malone, but with this phony English royal family, it was just OK.
—Justice
A novella...I prefer longer, more detailed books.
—ReaderKing
