The Paris Vendetta: A Novel

The Paris Vendetta: A Novel
by Steve Berry

The Paris Vendetta: A Novel
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Book Summary Information

Author: Steve Berry
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-12-01
ISBN: 0345505476
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Ballantine Books

Book Reviews of The Paris Vendetta: A Novel

Book Review: Berry Continues to Fulfill and Exceed His Own Standards
Summary: 5 Stars

Steve Berry is a remarkable storyteller. Each of his books are more complex than the previous one, developed along multiple, action-packed plotlines that are based on little-known though fascinating historical mysteries and legends. Yet Berry keeps the reader on a straight and narrow path, advancing each storyline just a page or two at a time before switching elsewhere. He continues to fulfill and exceed his own standards with each successive work, particularly since the introduction of Cotton Malone in THE TEMPLAR LEGACY.

Henrik Thorvaldsen, an enigmatic Danish industrialist of almost unimaginable wealth --- and Malone's closest friend --- is on a mission of vengeance in Berry's latest thriller, THE PARIS VENDETTA. He has the means and opportunity to murder Graham Ashby, the man who engineered the death of Thorvaldsen's only son, which indirectly brought Malone into Thorvaldsen's life. Ashby, a British aristocrat, is a member of a shadowy international financial group known as the Paris Club. In order to maneuver himself closer to Ashby, Thorvaldsen engineers an invitation to join the club --- and at the same time recruits Malone to help him carry out his revenge. But Malone barely interjects himself into the mix when he is intercepted by Stephanie Nelle, his former supervisor at the mysterious Magellan Billet.

It appears that Ashby is working as a double agent for the United States government. The members of the Paris Club are formulating and executing an ingenious plot to target the global economy, financed in part by a fortune hidden from view for centuries: the treasure trove of Napoleon Bonaparte. Ashby is on the trail of the treasure and believes he is on the verge of discovering its location. Meanwhile, Nelle makes it clear to Malone that he cannot permit Thorvaldsen to succeed in his quest. When Thorvaldsen finds out that Malone's actions have been hamstringing his efforts, he feels utterly betrayed by his best friend but redoubles his efforts to bring some rough and final justice to Ashby.

Assisted at times by a young, renegade Secret Service agent named Sam Collins, Thorvaldsen comes closer and closer to exacting from Ashby the ultimate cost of his son's death, even as Malone attempts to balance loyalty to his dearest friend against the greater good. As the stories play out from Denmark and London to the better and lesser known landmarks of Paris, Malone will be tested physically and emotionally to his limits as all involved head to an unexpected climax.

Berry's exhaustive research serves him well in THE PARIS VENDETTA as it has in his other works, and his development of the enigma known as Cotton Malone moves the series along incrementally without impeding the furious pacing of the plot. Berry also continues to develop his always formidable ability as an action writer; there is one scene in particular that should carry a warning label, especially if one has a fear of heights and a tendency to forget to breathe. Given the ending of THE PARIS VENDETTA, Berry's next book will almost certainly take him in new, though no less exciting, directions.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Summary of The Paris Vendetta: A Novel

When Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile in 1821, he took to the grave a powerful secret. As general and emperor, he had stolen immeasurable riches from palaces, national treasuries, and even the Knights of Malta and the Vatican. In his final days, his British captors hoped to learn where the loot lay hidden. But he told them nothing, and in his will he made no mention of the treasure. Or did he?

Former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone isn't looking for trouble when it comes knocking at his Copenhagen bookshop. Actually, it breaks and enters in the form of an American Secret Service agent with a pair of assassins on his heels. Malone has his doubts about the anxious young man, but narrowly surviving a ferocious firefight convinces him to follow his unexpected new ally.

Their first stop is the secluded estate of Malone's good friend, Henrik Thorvaldsen. The wily Danish tycoon has uncovered the insidious plans of the Paris Club, a cabal of multimillionaires bent on manipulating the global economy. Only by matching wits with a terrorist-for-hire, foiling a catastrophic attack, and plunging into a desperate hunt for Napoleon's legendary lost treasure can Malone hope to avert international financial anarchy.

But Thorvaldsen's real objective is much more personal: to avenge the murder of his son by the larcenous aristocrat at the heart of the conspiracy. Thorvaldsen's vendetta places Malone in an impossible quandary?one that forces him to choose between friend and country, past and present. Starting in Denmark, moving to England, and ending up in the storied streets and cathedrals of Paris, Malone plays a breathless game of duplicity and death, all to claim a prize of untold value. But at what cost?
James Rollins Reviews The Paris Vendetta

James Rollins is the author of six thrillers in the bestselling Sigma Force series (Sandstorm, Map of Bones, Black Order, The Judas Strain, The Last Oracle, and The Doomsday Key); the movie novelization, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; and several stand-alone thrillers. Read his guest review of The Paris Vendetta:

I?ve known Steve Berry since the beginning of his career. Back in 2002, he approached me to read his first novel, The Amber Room, for a cover blurb. The book?s description definitely intrigued me, hinting at a story involving lost treasures, historical mysteries, and characters both compelling and repellant. Still, I turned the first page with a skeptical eye, wondering how a debut author would fare with such a big story. But within a matter of pages, skepticism faded, and awe rose. I read that book in one long sitting and closed the cover and thought: This guy is going to have a huge career. So, of course, I was happy to provide a blurb for that book. By the way, another struggling author was also impressed with the novel and described it as "my kind of thriller--a globe-trotting treasure hunt with exotic locales and ruthless villains." That little-known author was Dan Brown.

As years rolled by, my first gut reaction to Steve?s writing proved prophetic. His career rocketed after that first book as he produced story after story of nail-biting adventures that spanned the world: from the Russian steppes to the Egyptian desert to the icy caves of Antarctica. He?s since become branded as the king of intrigue, a master at folding ancient mysteries into ripped-from-the-headlines adventures. His books have dealt with Vatican prophecies, cures for AIDS, lost ancient libraries, even the discovery of a lost civilization. Over the years, he?s gathered a huge international following, climbing bestseller charts around the world.

So I picked up his latest book, The Paris Vendetta, and eyed it again with a bit of jaded skepticism. Surely he must have run out of steam. Who could keep producing masterworks of such precise plotting, complicated characters, and heart-pounding adventure year after year? So I settled into my favorite chair and turned the first page of The Paris Vendetta. Within a matter of paragraphs, I was riding with Napoleon through the scorching Egyptian desert, climbing the Great Pyramid for a midnight rendezvous, and discovering something earth-shattering was afoot. But what was it? A few pages later, his main character, the resourceful Cotton Malone, struggles to survive a firefight in his bookstore in Copenhagen. I found myself holding my breath, wincing as the suspense grew as taut as an assassin?s garrote, and quickly became embroiled in a conspiracy that trailed back centuries.

As I read that book, the hours vanished. Pages continued to fly by. And once again I was hooked. No, more than hooked... I was lost. In the end, that is the true magic and mastery of this man?s writing, the true reason he has become the king of intrigue. You don?t just read a Steve Berry novel. You live it. --James Rollins


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