Hunting Alexander's Grave
Bestselling author Steve Berry is ready to storm bookstores-and
Venice-with his next Cotton Malone adventure, THE VENETIAN BETRAYAL, on
December 11. This is Berry's third Cotton Malone novel and
sixth novel overall. Former government attorney/agent Malone now lives
in Copenhagen and runs an antique bookstore when he isn't otherwise
being drafted or dragged into adventures-adventures that typically send
him chasing all over the world and delving into historical mysteries.
Berry says, "Cotton is a troubled man. He's had some failures in his
life. His marriage failed, his relationship with his son had some very
troubling aspects to it, though he's tried to make peace with both of
those. He can't leave behind the past. The past keeps dragging him back
in through all these good friends he's met."
Prior to being a bookseller, Cotton Malone was an attorney for the U.S. Justice Department's Magellan Billet. Berry describes the Magellan Billet as, "Twelve lawyers the Justice Department put together to do some very specialized things. These lawyers have some skills, they're not just off-the-rack kind of people, but they're not trained spies, either. They're just trained people who are put into some very delicate assignments and Cotton has proved himself able to handle those."
In THE VENETIAN BETRAYAL, Cotton is drawn into a geopolitical chess
game when a mysterious group is setting fire to museums and other
buildings across Europe with the intention of preventing anyone from
finding a secret that was buried with the mummified remains of
Alexander the Great. Berry says, "We're dealing with the connection
between Venice and Alexander the Great; we also deal with Central
Asia-all the 'stans in Central Asia. I've always wondered what they'd
do if they put aside all of their corruption and incompetence and
joined forces and became one unified nation. They could be a powerful
nation. They have huge natural resources, huge amounts of oil, natural
gas and they're strategically between Russia, Asia, Europe and the
Middle East."
For the book, Berry envisioned a Central Asian Confederation led by Supreme Minister Irina Zovastina. She has created a stockpile of biological weapons that can only be stopped by a "healing serum" hidden in Alexander the Great's tomb-lost sometime in the fifth century. Teaming up with his friend Cassiopeia Vitt, Cotton attempts to track down the tomb before Irina Zovastina's henchman can.
Berry notes that in some ways THE VENICE BETRAYAL is Cassiopeia's story. "She must come to terms with things from her past, and she had to deal with some conflicting emotions. Cotton is drawn into her conflict through both his empathy and attraction for her, ultimately figuring prominently in the resolution."
Berry likes to do research firsthand at the locations where his books take place. "I went to Venice. I loved it. I'd never been before. I had to go because I wanted to see the tomb of St. Mark. I went to a little island called Torcello. It was a magnificent place. I used all that in the book." He notes he just got back from Germany, which is the setting for his 2008 novel.
Although Berry still practices law in Georgia, he notes that he's spending more and more time on writing. "I'm an early morning person, so I do a lot of my original words starting around seven and going a little longer now, maybe until around ten or eleven o'clock. Now, after lunch, too. About 80% of my day is writing, about 20% law."
THE VENETIAN BETRAYAL will be out in hardcover on December 11. The previous Cotton Malone novel, THE ALEXANDRIA LINK, hits bookstores in mass market paperback on November 27.
Mark Terry is
an ITW contributing editor and the author of the Derek Stillwater
thrillers, the latest of which is THE SERPENT'S KISS. Visit his website
at www.markterrybooks.com.ThrillerFest
ITW's annual celebration of the thriller world is the largest event of its kind, a meeting place for authors, readers, budding writers, and publishing industry professionals.
For 2011, we’ll be back in the heart of New York in July with the ThrillerFest conference including CraftFest and AgentFest.
ThrillerFest VI will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.
The dates will be July 6-9, 2011.
More information to follow.
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