My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A Cotton Malone adventure involving a flaw in the United States Constitution, a mystery about Abraham Lincoln, and a political issue that’s as explosive as it is timely—not only in Malone’s world, but in ours.
September 1861: All is not as it seems.With these cryptic words, a shocking secret passed down from president to president comes to rest in the hands of Abraham Lincoln. And as the first bloody clashes of the Civil War unfold, Lincoln alone must decide how best to use this volatile knowledge: save thousands of American lives, or keep the young nation from being torn apart forever?
The present: In Utah, the fabled remains of Mormon pioneers whose nineteenth-century expedition across the desert met with a murderous end have been uncovered. In Washington, D.C., the official investigation of an international entrepreneur, an elder in the Mormon church, has sparked a political battle between the White House and a powerful United States senator. In Denmark, a Justice Department agent, missing in action, has fallen into the hands of a dangerous zealot—a man driven by divine visions to make a prophet’s words reality. And in a matter of a few short hours, Cotton Malone has gone from quietly selling books at his shop in Denmark to dodging bullets in a high-speed boat chase.
All it takes is a phone call from his former boss in Washington, and suddenly the ex-agent is racing to rescue an informant carrying critical intelligence. It’s just the kind of perilous business that Malone has been trying to leave behind, ever since he retired from the Justice Department. But once he draws enemy blood, Malone is plunged into a deadly conflict—a constitutional war secretly set in motion more than two hundred years ago by America’s Founding Fathers.
From the streets of Copenhagen to the catacombs of Salzburg to the rugged mountains of Utah, the grim specter of the Civil War looms as a dangerous conspiracy gathers power. Malone risks life, liberty, and his greatest love in a race for the truth about Abraham Lincoln—while the fate of the United States of America hangs in the balance.
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It’s only fitting that Cotton Malone goes from saving the UK from tearing apart in the last novel to trying to save the USA in this one. Unfortunately, this book isn’t as interesting to read as The King's Deception was.
This book was ok to read, not bad just not fantastic to read and the usual flow was missing. Personally, I’m not really a fan of religious fanatics and making the main bad guy a fanatic Mormon with hallucinations made me groan inside. Also, it didn’t help that I have read a kind of similar book by James Rollins called The Devil Colony that is utterly engrossing to read.
A big problem with the book was Cassiopeia Vitt role, she is usually a great character, but in this book, I just wanted to slap her and tell her to wise up. Stephanie Nelle asks her to get close to a childhood friend and the first man she ever loved. But she left him because he was a devout Mormon, and although she had grown up a Mormon she didn’t believe. Now she dupes him to believe that she has found her faith. The problem is that she seems to be totally incapable of believing that he is bad. She really wants to clear his name and is totally blind to and death to everything that happens and everything Cotton Malone, the man she supposed to love, says.
But the book wasn’t all bad, a new character Luke Daniels, nephew to the president and an agent for Magellan Billet was introduced and he was a great addition. I hope he will be in the next book. The ending was ok except the last action of Cassiopeia Vitt which was very immature.
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