jefferson key

Cotton Malone is back in action. Malone returns in The Jefferson Key;  the seventh installment of this retired agent from the super-secret Magellan Billet, within the Justice Department, from author, Steve Berry.

Malone got out of the spy business, after it ruined his personal life and nearly killed him on various occasions. Now he is officially retired, though only fifty or so, and he lives in a quiet, northern European city, where he owns a bookstore.

Even though he retired from an American agency, in the past, Malone's adventures have been mainly outside the US, often times assisted by a few close European ties, with an occasional help from his friend, the President of the United States. But in The Jefferson Key, the action takes place mainly in America, and in close association with the president and white house staff. The adversary, in this case, is a secretive privateering organization, which has been plying the waters--and more recently, the world financial network--based on a Letter of Marque granted to their ancestors by George Washington.

Berry flexes his history muscles in this one, as he has in the past, and Cotton Malone and friends are soon tied up in a historical Gordian Knot, which they need to unravel in order to prevent catastrophe. The historical puzzle has a familiar characteristics: it involves the secret plans of some of the founding fathers, lost or hidden documents, secret codes and puzzles, and clues which may lie right under our noses, in plain sight! yeah, where have we seen that before

It was a fun romp nonetheless. I think I missed a few of Berry's books since the last one I read, The Charlemagne Pursuit, which I didn't like very much so I'll have to look for them at the library.