Book Log 2006 #58: The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry

Steve Berry is to Dan Brown what Scott Turow is to John Grisham: a better writer in a genre where someone else gets the lion's share of hype.

I don't think Berry is as good a writer as Turow, but if we're thinking about novels that would fall into whatever genre The DaVinci Code would fall into, Berry writes rings around Brown. From character to plot to pace, Berry wins on all counts.

Similar to his other books, Berry's protagonist is a guy who gets roped into a series of events after intervening in an act of attempted violence. This leads to a mad dash around Europe as the protagonist - quasi-spy turned book seller Cotton Malone - and his former boss at the US Justice Department try to solve the puzzle of the Knights Templar - a puzzle that led to the death of the boss's husband several years earlier. Throw into this a man who wants to return the Templars to their former glory, and you've got a pretty good set-up.

It does get a little dopey at times, but the entertainment value makes up for it. A fun read.