Hang on to your Seat – It’s a Roller Coaster!Steve Berry is a favourite author and his recent book does not disappoint. After reading just a few electrifying paragraphs suddenly it would leap effortlessly to yet another scene creating an exhilarating roller coaster of a ride throughout the entire book. Quite remarkable as other books can confuse the reader by jumping back and forth. But not so with the Jefferson Key. It flowed along smoothly, and was a very exciting, suspenseful read. Highly rec...

Ugh. I sometimes (often!) wonder how my opinion of a particular book differs so radically from the mainstream view. ? Different tastes, I guess. Anyway, no - I really didn't like this book at all. It irritated me no end. This is one of those 'DaVinci' genre books, complete with all the trimmings: a dark historical secret, a secret group of men that exists to this day, a coded message that no one can break, droppings of historical interest here and there (in this case, the history of piracy - whi...

As always, Steve Berry spins one hell of a yarn!For this book, Berry has set his story inside the U.S. and involves the earliest years of the country, when there was no military. Instead the founding fathers offered letters of mark to four individuals - either privateers or pirates, depending who you talk to - who could bedevil the young America's enemies on behalf of the government. In return, they are promised immunity from any prosecution, and the right to keep most of the spoils they acquire...

I have always enjoyed Steve Berry's style of fast paced writing, he keeps the story moving along really well. I did, however, struggle a little with this entry in the Cotton Malone series, as it is not so much an adventure this time around as a struggle to protect the President from an historical threat that had extended its grasp from the past into the present. I found that it didn't capture my attention and I did find my interest waning I hope that the next instalment revitalises my love of th...

Cotton Malone has taken me on some exciting adventures from the secrets of the Alexandria Library, to a lost fortune of Napoleon's and to an undiscovered tomb of terra cotta warriors in China. This time there are no visits to his bookstore in Denmark because the action takes place in America. The plots involves American pirates, the link between the four presidents assassinated while in office and missing pages from the "Congressional Reacord". There are a lot of people involved in this book. Th...

Notes:Libraries are awesome! This is one of the series that I can read via library loans. As always, interesting mix of history and closer to home politics were woven into this story. I find most of the Cotton Malone stories to be either starts well and ends on a neutral tone or slow build with better pacing towards the end. I have yet to read one where it's well paced from start to finish.

This book started out good. I was really enjoying it and planned to read the rest of the series, then...The action middle of the book has too many characters doing too many things at once. The text skips around so fast you can't follow what is going on with any one character for very long. Even in the center of the character's story, there are single sentences that don't fit with the narrative just popped in.Then...it seems like there is some challenge out there for writers to write the most dem...

Steve Berry is a bright guy who writes thrillers that are great for people with attention deficit. You get to change location and subject every couple of paragraphs. Wild global ping-pong kinda stuff. When you get to the end, you think well, that was sure a nice ride, but I have no idea what I just read. Speaking of rides, best damn scene in the whole book is the motorcycle ride down the stairway of a fancy hotel!

Cotton Malone!I just love these books. Cotton is amazing. You learn something about history and the world and it's super exciting!And this book was just as great as the others - BUT ... there was a bit too much Pirate stuff in there. It was just too much. There are also too many people telling the story - we have 5 POVs!And sometimes Steve just drones on and on about things I wasn't interested in. BUT, I also still loved the book. I love Cotton and Cass together and the last 150 pages were reall...

Steve Berry's "The Jefferson Key," mixes history and 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 he had been set up to take the blame if it succeeded.The story begins with an attempt on Andrew Jackson's life after he informed a group of pirates or privateers, that their services were no longer d...

I began reading Steve Berry novels over a decade ago beginning with THE TEMPLAR LEGACY. Mr. Berry’s command of history and his innovative approach to storytelling were readily apparent and having read seven more of his works I have never been disappointed. Berry’s central character Harold Earl “Cotton” Malone, lawyer, former member of an elite Justice Department group, pilot, and naval officer, leads his readers through interesting plot lines within the context of fascinating historical palates....

I was excited to receive and review this book. The cover was a hook and I was interested as I have read another book by Mr. Berry and it was great. 1) My advanced edition had three blurbs from authors David Baldacci, Vince Flynn and Brad Meltzer. I have read everything they have written and they raved about this book so I was ready to start.2) The opening was interesting and hooked me. It had everything you would need. Two assassination attempts on President's, letters of Marque, and a cipher. T...

no dossier, eh?yo ho ho and a bottle of rum;i kept expecting for some pieces of eight to turn upp78: kennedy's protection was waved off for political reasons.p106: her right hand held a revolver.p107: he noticed that her weapon was sound-suppressed.p180: the front door slowly opened and a dark formed stepped inside.p240: she was visibly upset at the site of the missing wheel.p265: "...if we had, we would taken preventive measures."p265: "i'd say that should be tops on your list," daniels said.p2...

Not as entertaining a book as I am used to from Berry, but still a great effort. The book examines the presidential assassinations and how they all tie together, through an underground group, The Commonwealth.Berry also examines the world of pirates and privateers in this latest edition of the Cotton Malone series. Malone stays on this side of the Atlantic and pits him against this underground group and his nemesis from the short story The Devil's Gold.The storyline did drag a little at times, b...

Excellent read, but it was a bit difficult keeping all the players straight. The POV kept changing, sometimes as often as every paragraph. Really enjoyed the storyline and all the backstabbing! I hadn't visited with Cotton Malone since THE ALEXANDRIA LINK, and really shouldn't stay away so long.

What an exciting tale all based on historical fact regarding pirates of the USA created by letters of marque issued by Congress and President Washington and believe it or not the US Constitution. England, France, and even Spain had their own pirates as well. American didn't sign the treaty when piracy was outlawed by many countries back in the 18th century. The United States nor France signed the treaty. Spain and Great Britain did. Which means according to our Constitution, letters of marque ca...

Mr. Berry was recommended to me. I like conspiracy books, I enjoyed reading The DaVinci Code and so I assumed I'd enjoy this one as well.Not at all.The first 30 pages were intense. But then the book turned into a mish-mosh of jumbled scenesPositives: The only positive of this book, in my opinion, was I liked the premise of the book. Definitely interesting. But the premise was the only good thing.Negatives:1) Too many--and I mean WAY too many--main characters. There was not really one protagonist...

The Jefferson Key is a quick-paced thriller, filled with short chapters that end with cliffhangers forcing the reader to turn the page. The book is beautifully interwoven with real American history that gives this “Mister Toad’s Wild Ride” intriguing credence and an enjoyable relatability to those of us who love to learn a little something when we read. It’s hard to go wrong with a superman hero, Cotton Malone, his kick-ass love interest, Cassiopeia Vitt who holds her own when trouble comes to a...

This is an entertaining novel, but not as sophisticated or ground-breaking as the six prior books in the Cotton Malone series. Author Steve Berry shifts his background from Europe to the U.S. and Nova Scotia. The characters are familiar to those who have read Berry's earlier books, but so are the chases and fight scenes. An author writing a multi-book series faces the challenge of maintaining continuity while continuing to create new and imaginative stories. I'll take a break before I plow throu...

Title: The Jefferson KeyAuthor: Steve BerryPages: 480Year: 2011Publisher: Ballantine BooksMy rating 5 out of 5 stars.Each book I read of Steve Berry’s is for me a lesson in the nuance of historical events and people. While the book is a work of fiction, at the end he kindly separates the facts from the fiction of his work. I am constantly amazed at the number of events that have escaped my notice or memory that make the novels all the more captivating to me from start to finish.Cotton Malone rea...