Book Review: The Jefferson Key

The Jefferson Key by Steve Berry

Four United States presidents have been assassinated—in 1865, 1881, 1901, and 1963—each murder seemingly unrelated and separated by time.

But what if those presidents were all killed for the same reason: a clause in the United States Constitution—contained within Article 1, Section 8—that would shock Americans?

This question is what faces former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone in his latest adventure.  When a bold assassination attempt is made against President Danny Daniels in the heart of Manhattan, Malone risks his life to foil the killing—only to find himself at dangerous odds with the Commonwealth, a secret society of pirates first assembled during the American Revolution. In their most perilous exploit yet, Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt race across the nation and take to the high seas. Along the way they break a secret cipher originally possessed by Thomas Jefferson, unravel a mystery concocted by Andrew Jackson, and unearth a centuries-old document forged by the Founding Fathers themselves, one powerful enough—thanks to that clause in the Constitution—to make the Commonwealth unstoppable.

(From the publisher).

The Jefferson Key was probably about the 6th or 7th Cotton Malone adventure I'd read by Steve Berry. I kind of love these things. Some women read "chick lit" or other similarly mindless fiction to relax and take a break. I read what I like to call archaeological adventure thrillers. Think Dan Brown's Angels and Demons or The Da Vinci Code. I've found a few other authors that I like as well, notably Will Adams, but Steve Berry is the most prolific and usually a sure bet for me.

The Jefferson Key was actually one of my least favorite Cotton Malone adventures because it failed to live up to its potential. Sure it was action driven, exciting, characters were running from mysterious men with guns and finding long lost treasures, all the elements that one would want in a story like this. My real gripe with it was the Oak Island treasure story, infamous in Canadian pirate lore (google it and spend hours being fascinated by all the theories out there), had so much potential to be a really cool treasure to find. But Berry barely touched on it, and the "treasure" story was too far removed from the main action. The best books in this genre seamlessly integrate the two, leading to the ultimate climax where just when the protagonist finds the treasure vault or other cool secret relic, the baddies all come rushing in with guns blazing, ruining the whole thing, before said protagonist needs to go off to save his new lady friend from certain death. 

But regardless, Cotton Malone continues to be a great character to drive these types of stories. He's the right amount of bad-ass ex-federal operative mixed with antique bookseller and lover of history to pull of this kind of tale. I still think that this makes more sense than Dan Brown's Robert Langdon who gets thrust into situations where he would be in desperate need of sophisticated police training just to stay alive. These books are more fun when you're not worried too much about the main characters.  

New and Upcoming Books

Here's a short list of books that are new or upcoming that I'm excited to read.

 1. Home by Matthew Costello

2. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Chronicles: Art & Design by Daniel Falconer (movie out in theatres December 14, 2012)

3. A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

4. 419 by Will Ferguson (Winner of Scotiabank Giller Prize 2012)

5. The Wizard of Crescent Moon by Oldman Brook

Review: From Mountains of Ice by Lorina Stephens

From Mountains of Ice by Lorina Stephens

Sylvio spent the past decade banished from Simare's court, stripped of land, ancestral home and title - from Minister of National Security to back-country bowyer. But not any bowyer; Sylvio creates bows from laminations of wood and human bone, bows that are said to speak, bows known as the legendary arcossi.And now, after a decade, he is called back to the capitol, summoned by his Prince whom he suspects is a patricide and insane. His very life is in danger and with it the country he has served through all his days.From Mountains of Ice is a story of love, endurance and the meaning of honour.

This is another book that I have to give a very mixed review to, mostly because the writing was kind of poor, when the concept was strong and interesting. I used to think that all I needed was a good idea to write about and I too could become an author. Books like this make me realize that a good idea isn't enough if you don't have the writing chops to back it up.

What drew me to this novel was the idea of a fantasy setting that was very similar to a real time and place in our world, in this case Renaissance Italy. My favourite Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay does this so well; I really wanted to find another author who could pull off this tricky setting. Stephens doesn't really draw me into the setting and as a result the world seems confused and complicated, with little to ground you in the story.  I often thought that something as simple as a map illustration would have been beneficial, especially as the story gets geo-political.

About a third of the way through the story, finally the action picks up, but it fails to go anywhere.  It wasn't episodic enough for me, more like a long string of events that don't seem to lead anywhere.

I did like the protagonist Sylvio, although he and his wife Aletta were a little too perfect as characters. What I wanted more than anything was more time with them to get to know them better. Carmelo's back story sounded intriguing if only the reader got a bit more of it to explain his actions. This is particularly hard to overcome because the plot rests so much on why he hates Sylvio.

With a rushed ending and next to no plot moments that I can even remember having read the book a few weeks ago, I can't recommend this book.

I received this book for review from Librarything Early Reviewers Giveaway.