Had some days off work and did some fun things and went toodling around. As far as reading, I was reading our Mystery Book Club,s May selection: The 14th Colony by Steve Berry.
It is the 11th book in the Cotton Malone series. Here is what it is about.
"Shot down over Siberia in what was to be a simple meet-and-greet-mission, ex-Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is forced into a fight for survival against Aleksandr Zorin, whose loyalty to the former Soviet Union has festered for decades into an intense hatred of the United States.
Before escaping, Malone learns that Zorin and another ex-KGB officer, this one a sleeper still imbedded in the West, are headed overseas to Washington D.C. Inauguration Day-noon on January 20th-is only hours away. A flaw in the Constitution, and an even more flawed presidential succession act, have opened the door to political chaos and Zorin intends to exploit both weaknesses to their fullest.
Armed with a weapon leftover from the Cold War, one long thought to be just a myth, Zorin plans to attack. He's aided by a shocking secret hidden in the archives of America's oldest fraternal organization-the Society of Cincinnati-a group that once lent out its military savvy to presidents, including helping to formulate three covert invasion plans of Canada.
In a race against the clock that starts in the frozen extremes of Russia and ultimately ends at the White House itself, Malone must not only battle Zorin, he must also confront his deepest fear, a crippling weakness that he's long denied but one that now jeopardizes everything. Steve Berry's trademark mix of fact, fiction, history and speculation, is all here, front and center, in this provocative new thriller."
I will start with what I thought about the book and then share the MBC's thoughts.
I will call this a political thriller. There is a lot of true history inserted into the story, history that I was not aware of. Partly because I was a little young at the time and partly because I never followed politics. History about President Reagan and the Pope at the time. And of course history about the title of the book; The 14th Colony. I never knew that the US had it's eye on Canada to be the 14th colony-way back in the late 1700's.
I found the history interesting. Cotton Malone is a likeable character. (I haven't read any other of the Cotton Malone books.) The end was good, fast paced. The writing is very good. But...it was a really long book for me. Well over 400 pages. I wasn't particularly interested in the storyline until I had beca me interested in Cotton and what was going to happen to him towards the end. It just wasn't the type of book I like to read. It took me over three weeks to read it. Not good for me.
Here is what the MBC group said: One person really loved it and read it in three days. She read it alongside of a history book and kept going back and forth between the two, to compare. One person that has read other books by Steve Berry of the Cotton Malone series, said he liked the other books he read, but didn't like this one as much and it was really long. Others that finished it, agreed that the end was good and are considering reading other in the series because this book talked about something that had happened between Cotton and Casseopeia (apparently had a relationship) and they want to know what that is all about. There were others that didn't finish it. We also discussed/debated whether or not this was a mystery. I said yes because the mystery is where are the items everyone is looking for. I say it is a thriller.
So, I would say if you like history, politics and spies, you would probably like this book.
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