The Charlemagne pursuit: a novel

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As a child, former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone was told his father died in a submarine disaster in the North Atlantic, but now he wants the full story and asks his ex-boss, Stephanie Nelle, to secure the military files. What he learns stuns him: His father’s sub was a secret nuclear vessel lost on a highly classified mission beneath the ice shelves of Antarctica. But Malone isn’t the only one after the truth. Twin sisters Dorothea Lindauer and Christl Falk are fighting for the fortune their mother has promised to whichever of them discovers what really became of their father–who died on the same submarine that Malone’s father captained.The sisters know something Malone doesn’t: Inspired by strange clues discovered in Charlemagne’s tomb, the Nazis explored Antarctica before the Americans, as long ago as 1938. Now Malone discovers that cryptic journals penned in “the language of heaven,” inscrutable conundrums posed by an ancient historian, and the ill-fated voyage of his father are all tied to a revelation of immense consequence for humankind. In an effort to ensure that this explosive information never rises to the surface, Langford Ramsey, an ambitious navy admiral, has begun a brutal game of treachery, blackmail, and assassination. As Malone embarks on a dangerous quest with the sisters–one that leads them from an ancient German cathedral to a snowy French citadel to the unforgiving ice of Antarctica–he will finally confront the shocking truth of his father’s death and the distinct possibility of his own.

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Contributors
Berry, Steve Author
Brick, Scott Narrator
ISBN
9780345485793
9780345509635
9780739369432
9781415956809
9780345485809

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Also in this Series

  • The Templar legacy: a novel (Cotton Malone novels Volume 1) Cover
  • The Alexandria Link (Cotton Malone novels Volume 2) Cover
  • The Venetian betrayal: a novel (Cotton Malone novels Volume 3) Cover
  • The Charlemagne pursuit: a novel (Cotton Malone novels Volume 4) Cover
  • The Paris vendetta: a novel (Cotton Malone novels Volume 5) Cover
  • The emperor's tomb: a novel (Cotton Malone novels Volume 6) Cover
  • The Jefferson key: a novel (Cotton Malone novels Volume 7) Cover
  • The King's Deception (Cotton Malone novels Volume 8) Cover
  • The Lincoln myth: a novel (Cotton Malone novels Volume 9) Cover
  • The patriot threat (Cotton Malone novels Volume 10) Cover
  • The 14th colony (Cotton Malone novels Volume 11) Cover
  • The lost order (Cotton Malone novels Volume 12) Cover
  • The bishop's pawn (Cotton Malone novels Volume 13) Cover
  • The Malta exchange (Cotton Malone novels Volume 14) Cover
  • The Warsaw protocol (Cotton Malone novels Volume 15) Cover
  • The kaiser's web (Cotton Malone novels Volume 16) Cover
  • The last kingdom (Cotton Malone novels Volume 17) Cover
  • The Atlas maneuver (Cotton Malone novels Volume 18) Cover
  • The Medici return (Cotton Malone novels Volume 19) Cover

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Similar Series From Novelist

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for series you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Readers looking for thrilling adventure stories about historical conspiracies (Cotton Malone) and mystical enigmas (Mike Brink) will enjoy these suspenseful, plot-driven, fast-paced series that blur the lines between fact and fiction. -- Andrienne Cruz
Museum curators (Central Park) and a book dealer (Cotton Malone) frequently get involved in quests and mysteries pertaining to ancient history, prized artifacts, and critical documents throughout these series. Cotton Malone is more suspenseful, while Central Park incorporates some romance. -- Basia Wilson
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These series have the appeal factors suspenseful, fast-paced, and intricately plotted, and they have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "political thrillers"; and the subjects "international intrigue," "conspiracies," and "intelligence service."
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These series have the appeal factors suspenseful, action-packed, and fast-paced, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "international intrigue," "conspiracies," and "assassins."

Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the appeal factors suspenseful, plot-driven, and intricately plotted, and they have the themes "ancient enigmas" and "shadow organizations"; the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "secrets," "conspiracies," and "secret societies."
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Secret organizations, exotic locations, and mysterious objects feature in these adrenaline-fueled thrillers. Both intricately plotted novels take mythic ancient civilizations and government conspiracies and weave them into a seemingly impenetrable web of adventure and mayhem. -- Mike Nilsson
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Conspiracies steeped in history, international destinations and powerful unseen forces thwarting the valiant efforts of the hero are part of what make Steve Berry and Raymond Khoury's books so thrilling. Cloak and dagger suspense punctuates the historic depth explored in their works. -- Tara Bannon Williamson
With a shared love of history, both Dan Brown and Steve Berry write suspenseful, fast-paced stories of global conspiracies and secret societies; their heroes depend more on their quick wits than on sheer strength to solve the ancient puzzles that allow them to defeat their villainous enemies. -- Shauna Griffin
Both Sam Christer and Steve Berry write fast-paced thrillers that use conspiracies, riddles, and ancient prophecies as the key ingredients in their very intricate plots. The characters are often two-dimensional with likeable protagonists and despicable villains. The suspenseful gradual discovery of interesting details keeps the reader turning pages. -- Merle Jacob
Thriller writers James Barney and Steve Berry use conspiracies, secret societies, ancient prophecies, and cabals of evil people in their high-octane books featuring nonstop action in complex plots. Their characters are often two-dimensional, but the stories' high energy and twists and turns keep the reader totally involved. -- Merle Jacob
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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

Berry's Cotton Malone series is beginning to develop a case of been there, done that. In this fourth installment, the globe-trotting ex-government agent turned bookseller is caught up in the mystery of Charlemagne, the eighth-century empire builder whose tomb is somehow linked to an early Nazi exploration of Antarctica and, even stranger, to the death of Cotton's own father. The story follows the by-now overly familiar course: Cotton is thrust immediately into life-threatening danger and spends the rest of the novel evading pursuers and pursuing the solution to a historical puzzle. There are colorful bad guys, likable good guys, and plenty of action scenes (it's a mystery why no one has turned these books into Indiana Jones-like movies). As in previous episodes, the dialogue ranges from graceful to clunky, and the frequent chunks of historical background are worked into the narrative in ways that vary from seamless to clumsy. This is a solid action thriller that will appeal to the author's fans, but how long Berry can prolong the series without tinkering even a bit with his formula is the real question here.--Pitt, David Copyright 2008 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

In his fourth adventure, Copenhagen bookseller (and former U.S. government agent) Cotton Malone seeks the truth about his father, the commander of an experimental submarine that vanished in 1971. His quest makes him a target of the murderously ambitious Admiral Ramsey, an architect of the coverup, as well as an unwilling competitor and ally to twin German heiresses also looking for information about the fate of the submarine and its mission to Antarctica to search for an ancient civilization. Scott Brick's reading is perfectly acceptable, if not exceptional, and he keeps the many action sequences well paced. A reasonable attempt is made to differentiate between the genders of the characters, but Brick's accents (particularly the German) skirt the thin line between believable and comedic. His reading doesn't detract from the text of this solidly exciting, over-the-top thriller, but it doesn't enhance it, either. A Ballantine hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 29). (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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Library Journal Review

What a shock. Berry regular Cotton Malone always thought his father died when his sub sank in the North Atlantic, not on a secret mission under Antarctica. Now he's tracking down the whole story--following clues from a manuscript found in Charlemagne's tomb. With a ten-city tour by (ahem) bookstore request, though there is library marketing. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kirkus Book Review

Secret-agent-turned-bookseller Cotton Malone searches for the truth about his father's death; uncovers revelations about a brilliant early civilization spurned by the Nazis; and earns the enmity of an endlessly evil admiral. Our manly middle-aged recurring hero (The Venetian Betrayal, 2007, etc.) barely remembers his father, a naval officer whose submarine sank without a trace in 1971 when Malone was just ten, but he's got a line on the truth about that sinking, an incident the Navy has covered up to the present day. Malone's ex-boss Stephanie Nelle discharges a debt by producing a top-secret report on the sinking, long kept buried by Adm. Langford Ramsey, chief of naval intelligence. In the way of thrillers, Malone must receive the report at a tram stop high in the Alps and villains must immediately try to snatch it back, forcing him to toss a bad man from a moving ski lift and to beat a bad woman within an inch of her life. Within hours, Malone becomes involved with a Bavarian billionaire family, the Oberhausers, whose patriarchs believed that the emperor Charlemagne and his trusty lieutenant Einhard were chums with the Watchers, survivors of a brilliant civilization that had its peak long before the pyramids. Hard-bitten matriarch Isabel Oberhauser and her beautiful but fatally conflicted twin daughters, Christl and Dorothea, are interested in the secret report because the twins' dad was also on that submarine, which went missing not in the Atlantic, as promulgated by the Navy, but off Antarctica, where the Watchers' civilization had its heyday. Meanwhile, back in the United States, Adm. Ramsey, who knows everything about that ancient society, has dispatched his favorite hired killer to create an opening at the top of the naval structure and sent another underling to eliminate Malone and the Oberhausers. Thank goodness we have a shrewd president. Berry sticks to his successful but bland fact-and-fantasy format. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

Berry's Cotton Malone series is beginning to develop a case of been there, done that. In this fourth installment, the globe-trotting ex–government agent turned bookseller is caught up in the mystery of Charlemagne, the eighth-century empire builder whose tomb is somehow linked to an early Nazi exploration of Antarctica and, even stranger, to the death of Cotton's own father. The story follows the by-now overly familiar course: Cotton is thrust immediately into life-threatening danger and spends the rest of the novel evading pursuers and pursuing the solution to a historical puzzle. There are colorful bad guys, likable good guys, and plenty of action scenes (it's a mystery why no one has turned these books into Indiana Jones–like movies). As in previous episodes, the dialogue ranges from graceful to clunky, and the frequent chunks of historical background are worked into the narrative in ways that vary from seamless to clumsy. This is a solid action thriller that will appeal to the author's fans, but how long Berry can prolong the series without tinkering even a bit with his formula is the real question here. Copyright 2008 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2008 Booklist Reviews.
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Library Journal Reviews

What a shock. Berry regular Cotton Malone always thought his father died when his sub sank in the North Atlantic, not on a secret mission under Antarctica. Now he's tracking down the whole story--following clues from a manuscript found in Charlemagne's tomb. With a ten-city tour by (ahem) bookstore request, though there is library marketing. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
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Library Journal Reviews

Berry outdoes himself in his latest Cotton Malone adventure (after The Venetian Betrayal ). Using his connections in the federal government, Cotton asks to see a classified file that details the mission that resulted in his father's death. He knew his father died on a submarine but none of the shocking details about where or why he died. But Cotton is not the only person who wants this file, and they kill to get it. Nazi missions to the Antarctic, ancient societies, and a valuable artifact from Charlemagne's tomb all play key roles as Malone uncovers the truth. So much is going on that there is enough material for two good books, let alone one great one. Mixed in with the complicated action, Berry finds the time to explore the characters as well, making this his most personal and best book to date. For all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/08.]—Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.

[Page 43]. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

In bestseller Berry's fourth thriller to feature ex–Justice Department agent Cotton Malone (after The Venetian Betrayal ), Malone embarks on a search for answers about his father, Capt. Forrest Malone, after learning that instead of dying in 1971 in a nuclear sub accident in the North Atlantic, his father actually died while on a secret submarine mission to the Antarctic. Meanwhile, bad guy Adm. Langford Ramsey schemes to become the next ranking officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The two story lines merge as a group led by Malone races to Antarctica, where they find a strange underground city belonging to the Aryans, an advanced race who inhabited the earth at the dawn of our own civilization. A meticulous researcher, Berry carefully integrates such elements as Charlemagne, Nazis, ancient manuscripts, historical puzzles and scientific surprises into the plot. Those who relish suspense in the Da Vinci Code vein will snap this one up, the best yet in the series. 10-city author tour. (Dec.)

[Page 58]. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
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