The Jefferson Key (with bonus short story The Devil's Gold): A Novel

Steve Berry

May 2011 · Cotton Malone Book 7 · Sold by Ballantine Books

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Four presidents of the United States have been assassinated—in 1865, 1881, 1901, and 1963—each murder seemingly unrelated. But what if those presidents were all killed for the shocking same reason: a clause contained in the United States Constitution? This is the question faced by former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone. When President Danny Daniels is nearly killed in the heart of Manhattan, Malone risks his life to foil the murder—only to find himself at odds with the Commonwealth, a secret society of pirates first assembled during the American Revolution. Racing across the nation and taking to the high seas, Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt must break a secret cipher originally possessed by Thomas Jefferson, unravel a mystery concocted by Andrew Jackson, and unearth a document forged by the Founding Fathers themselves—one powerful enough to make the Commonwealth unstoppable.

Don’t miss Steve Berry’s short story “The Devil’s Gold” and an excerpt from The King's Deception in the back of the book.

Ratings and reviews

Steve Berry's novel, "The Jefferson Key," mixes history with fiction to produce a story that is interesting and intriguing. Cotton Malone, former Justice Dept. operative, is summoned to New York only to be caught up in an attempt on the President's life. He manages to stop the assassination and realizes that if the plot succeeded, he would have been set up to take the blame. The story begins with an attempt on Andrew Jackson's life after he informed a group of pirates or privateers that there services were no longer needed by the United States. He removes the group's letter of marque which granted them freedom on the high seas. He also establishes a code which would enable the group to remove the President's condemnation of their acts. Jonathan Wyatt, a rogue agent, has a grudge against Cotton Malone and tries to implicate Malone in the actions against the President. The society of privateers is known as The Commonwealth and are led by Quintin Hale. They steal from the enemies of the United States and sell their goods on the black market. They are also responsible for the death's of the four Presidents who died from assassination. There is plenty of action and political maneuvering with characters who are so real it is as if they were taken from the front page to the daily newspaper. Cotton Malone is particularly likeable and Quintin Hale is well described as the evil antagonist. The plot is somewhat like "The Da Vinci Code" in that there is a race to see who would solve the mystery of where the code is hidden. Steve Berry is at the height of his powers as a writer of political fiction and this novel demonstrates a new view of history that is fascinating.

This title wasn't worth the wait--difficult to keep track of the multiple characters and plot lines. The convoluted plot wasn't worthe the effort and I ailed out after 50 pages. J.P. Miller. Cambridge, MA

Not bad at all for a good light harder read. I'll be checking out more of Steve Berry's work.

About the author

Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of The Lincoln Myth, The King’s Deception, The Columbus Affair, The Jefferson Key, The Emperor’s Tomb, The Paris Vendetta, The Charlemagne Pursuit, The Venetian Betrayal, The Alexandria Link, The Templar Legacy, The Third Secret, The Romanov Prophecy, and The Amber Room. His books have been translated into 40 languages with more than 18,000,000 copies in 51 countries.
 
History lies at the heart of every Steve Berry novel. It’s this passion, one he shares with his wife, Elizabeth, that led them to create History Matters, a foundation dedicated to historic preservation. Since 2009 Steve and Elizabeth have traveled across the country to save endangered historic treasures, raising money via lectures, receptions, galas, luncheons, dinners, and their popular writers’ workshops. To date, nearly 2,500 students have attended those workshops. In 2012 their work was recognized by the American Library Association, which named Steve the first spokesman for National Preservation Week. He was also appointed by the Smithsonian Board of Regents to serve on the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board to help promote and support the libraries in their mission to provide information in all forms to scientists, curators, scholars, students, and the public at large. He has received the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award and the 2013 Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers. His novel The Columbus Affair earned him the Anne Frank Human Writes Award, and his historic preservation work merited the 2013 Silver Bullet from International Thriller Writers.
 
Steve Berry was born and raised in Georgia, graduating from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University. He was a trial lawyer for 30 years and held elective office for 14 of those years. He is a founding member of International Thriller Writers—a group of more than 2,600 thriller writers from around the world—and served three years as its co-president.
 
For more information, visit www.steveberry.org.