The Devil's Bible: A Cotton Malone Novel

Most Helpful Review

"Stephanie Nelle is in Stockholm to do a personal favor for the King of Sweden, with Cotton Malone and Cassiopoeia Vitt along to help find his kidnapped sister, Princess Lysa. The ransom demand is the title book, The Devil's Bible, a massive illuminated medieval manuscript, upon which hinges Sweden's entry into NATO. The kidnappers are presumably affiliated with Russia, who oppose any expansion of NATO. The husband of the kidnapped princess, an English billionaire who gets most of his business from Russia, is the prime suspect, especially since he was implicated as a Russian asset a decade earlier. Such is a Steve Berry thriller. A mysterious historical object or subject with some potential connection to present day political intrigue, set in several fabulous locations the world over. Though long retired from the intelligence service, Cotton is constantly pulled into Nelle's operations, this being the 20th entry in the series since The Templar Legacy was published 20 years ago in 2006.I've been a big fan and have read them all because of the winning formula -- part history, part mystery, part travelog. The historical aspect is the McGuffin, Hitchcock's famous term for the thing the bad guys are so interested in that they become bad guys (sorry, I go through this in every Berry review). Hitchcock believed that it didn't matter what the McGuffin is as long as the audience buys into the interest level it generates. But after so many McGuffin-fueled double chases, the plot device has become so predictable that the McGuffin itself has become the main attraction. In The Devil's Bible, the McGuffin falls flat. It is what it is -- a historical artifact of interest to several parties -- but that's all it is, there is no secret, no hidden agenda, no mystery. All there is to it is its importance to the NATO process, and even that is as simple and straightforward as can be. One point of collateral damage is that the exotic setting is no more than that, truly just a travelog, and in fact not all that exotic. Having been to 60 countries on all seven continents, Sweden is not high on my revisit listeven though it's 45 years since I've been there -- it's nice but not all that riveting. Having just returned from my third recent visit to Prague, I wish it was the prime locale, far cooler then Stockholm, especially during Christmas market season. There is also an unusually high level of lethal violence in this book, something that has not been necessary in Berry books since the history and mystery are the primary draws. I would describe much of the violence as gratuitous since it doesn't really move the story along. The final act of violence I get, it is highly significant, but the overall body count is just too high for my taste. Finally, I was put off by the last 15% of the book, which seemed to come out of left field after everything else was resolved. Along with the preceding 5% being an overlong action sequence with a wholly expected ending, I'm left disappointed with this book, a rarity when reading one of my favorite authors, Steve Berry. But, it's still within his wheelhouse and was a good read nevertheless. Thanks to the author and publisher for providing an advance reading copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I'm sorry to be this honest about it."