Book Log 2008 #10: The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry

While I still hold to my thoughts on Berry and his last book, I also think that each successive book Berry has written has been a little less enjoyable than the one before it. Or at least that's a theory that fits given this latest book, which fell flat for me.

Brief synopsis: Cotton Malone is a former Justice Department agent who is now retired and owns a bookstore in Copenhagen. A surprise visit from his ex-wife and a RPG attack on his store put him on the trail of the collection of the Alexandria library. His ex-boss has a subplot involving a conspiracy at high levels of the US government to prevent Malone from finding the collection.

It's the stuff from which these "historical" thrillers are made, except that this book is all about the find rather than the item being found. In the earlier books, there's actually something to see when Berry's heroes find modern day Templars or the heir to the Russian throne. In this book, all the hyped up action leads to a discovery that more or less goes nowhere.

I wonder if the pace is the problem. This book came out in early 2007, he has a new book involving Alexander the Great that came out in December, and he has another book slated for this coming December. I'd happily have him write a little less if it meant a better end result. I'll have to track down the newest book to see if my theory holds.