I read an arc of THE AMBER ROOM back in 2003 and was thoroughly captivated by the book. Over the last ten years I have continued to read Steve Berry’s books, both the Cotton Malone series and the stand alone books. People go on and on about THE DA VINCI CODE by Brown and my eyes glaze over and all I will say is Steve Berry does what Dan Brown thought he did. And what he does is blend a love of history with global thriller action and creates books that are impossible to put down and even educational. I got to meet Steve nad his wife a few years ago at Love Is Murder and he was charming and very nice and he indulged this fanboy by signing a very large box full of books.
As an off shoot of this love of history Steve and his wife Elizabeth have started a group called History Matters (http://history-matters.org/) and they help raise money to aid historic preservation and conservation. Budgets get cut and politicians need to tighten purse strings so one of the first things to go is money to care for these historic places. That’s where History Matters comes in, they help host events to raise money, so far over $500,000. Some of the places they’ve helped so far are P.T. Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut; the Lincoln Log Cabin in Charleston, Illinois; historic cemeteries in Raleigh, North Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia, and Jekyll Island, Georgia and the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut.
Speaking of history, Steve’s latest book is THE KING’S DECEPTION. The catalyst for the adventure this time out for Cotton Malone is the kidnapping of his son. Cotton ends up in the middle of a diplomatic nightmare involving terrorists being released from prison, secrets going back centuries and a possible conspiracy that could shake the British monarchy. As always it’s a perfect blend of history and action and let me tell you, by the time I got to the end of the book I was worn out! So go pick up this great book, and if for some reason you haven’t read Steve Berry before, go grab some earlier ones. It’s perfect summer reading.
 
Steve is on line here: steveberry.org
Books to date:
The Amber Room, Ballantine Books, 2003.
The Romanov Prophecy, Ballantine Books,2004
The Third Secret, Ballantine Books, 2005.
The Columbus Affair, 2012.
Cotton Malone Novels
The Templar Legacy, Ballantine Books, 2006.
The Alexandria Link, Ballantine Books, 2007.
The Venetian Betrayal, Ballantine Books, 2007.
The Charlemagne Pursuit, Ballantine Books, 2008.
The Paris Vendetta, Ballantine Books, 2009.
The Emperor’s Tomb, Ballantine Books, 2010.
The Jefferson Key, Ballantine Books, 2011.
The King’s Deception, Ballantine Books, 2013.
The Lincoln Myth (2014)
SO go!!! Go get some books and read!!
Jon