An engrossing stand-alone thriller from bestseller Berry.Publishers WeeklyThis being a Berry production, every alliance is of course fragile, and the bonds among even the heartiest teammates are up for grabs. So is the ultimate goal, for the author gradually reveals that Columbus lost gold mine is only chicken feed compared to the real bonanza at stake. LessThe Da Vinci CodethanAmerican Treasure. Think of Nicolas Cage, tearing up the scenery as Tom Sagan, to the background beat of popping corn and youre halfway there.Kirkus s Praise for Steve BerryBerry raises this genres stakes.The New York TimesAs always with Steve Berry, youre educated about significant things while your knuckles are turning white and the pages are flying by.#1 New York Times bestselling author David BaldacciFor those in need of a comparison, think Jack Bauer and the hit television series 24, with twists, turns, schemes and counter-schemes manifesting themselves by the second. . . . Berrys on a roll.Los Angeles TimesI love this guy.#1 New York Times bestselling author Lee ChildForget Clancy and Cussler. When it comes to this genre, there is simply no one better.The Providence JournalSteve Berry writes with the self-assured style of a veteran.#1 New York Times bestselling author Dan BrownFrom the Hardcover edition.About the AuthorSteve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of The Lincoln Myth, The Kings Deception, The Columbus Affair, The Jefferson Key, The Emperors Tomb, The Paris Vendetta, The Charlemagne Pursuit, The Venetian Betrayal, The Alexandria Link, The Templar Legacy, The Third Secret, The Romanov Prophecy, and The Amber Room. His books have been translated into 40 languages with more than 18,000,000 copies in 51 countries. History lies at the heart of every Steve Berry novel. Its this passion, one he shares with his wife, Elizabeth, that led them to create History Matters, a foundation dedicated to historic preservation. Since 2009 Steve and Elizabeth have traveled across the country to save endangered historic treasures, raising money via lectures, receptions, galas, luncheons, dinners, and their popular writers workshops. To date, nearly 2,500 students have attended those workshops. In 2012 their work was recognized by the American Library Association, which named Steve the first spokesman for National Preservation Week. He was also appointed by the Smithsonian Board of Regents to serve on the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board to help promote and support the libraries in their mission to provide information in all forms to scientists, curators, scholars, students, and the public at large. He has received the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award and the 2013 Writers for Writers Award from Poets Writers. His novel The Columbus Affair earned him the Anne Frank Human Writes Award, and his historic preservation work merited the 2013 Silver Bullet from International Thriller Writers. Steve Berry was born and raised in Georgia, graduating from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University. He was a trial lawyer for 30 years and held elective office for 14 of those years. He is a founding member of International Thriller Writersa group of more than 2,600 thriller writers from around the worldand served three years as its co-president. For more information, visit www.steveberry.org.From the Hardcover edition.Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.CHAPTER ONETom Sagan gripped the gun. Hed thought about this moment for the past year, debating the pros and cons, finally deciding that one pro outweighed all cons.He simply did not want to live any longer.Hed once been an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, knocking down a solid six-figure salary, his marquee byline generating one front-page, above-the-fold story after another. Hed worked all over the worldSarajevo, Beijing, Johannesburg, Belgrade, and Moscow. But the Middle East became his specialty, a place he came to know intimately, where his reputation had been forged. His confidential files were once filled with hundreds of willing sources, people who knew hed protect them at all costs. Hed proved that when he spent eleven days in a DC jail for failing to reveal his source on a story about a corrupt Pennsylvania congressman.That man had gone to prison.Tom had received his third Pulitzer nomination.There were twenty-one awarded categories. One was for distinguished investigative reporting by an individual or team, reported as a single newspaper article or a series. Winners received a certificate, $10,000, and the ability to add three precious wordsPulitzer Prize winnerto their names.He won his.But they took it back.Which seemed the story of his life.Everything had been taken back.His career, his reputation, his credibility, even his self-respect. In the end he became a failure as a son, a father, a husband, a reporter, and a friend. A few weeks ago hed charted that spiral on a pad, identifying that it all started when he was twenty-five, fresh out of the University of Florida, top third of his class, a journalism degree in hand.Then his father disowned him.Abiram Sagan had been unrelenting.We all make choices. Good. Bad. Indifferent. Youre a grown man, Tom, and have made yours. Now I have to make mine.And that he had.On that same pad hed jotted down the highs and lows. Some from before, as editor of his high school paper and campus reporter at college. Most after. His rise from news assistant, to staff reporter, to senior international correspondent. The awards. Accolades. Respect from his peers. How had one observer described his style? Wide-ranging and prescient reporting conducted at great personal risk.Then his divorce.The estrangement from his only child. Poor investment decisions. Even poorer life decisions.Finally, his firing.Eight years ago.And the seemingly nothing life since.Most of his friends were gone. But that was as much his fault as theirs. As his personal depression had deepened hed withdrawn into himself. Amazing he hadnt turned to alcohol or drugs, but neither had ever appealed to him.Self-pity was his intoxicant.He stared around at the houses interior.Hed decided to die, here, in his parents home. Fitting, in some morbid way. Thick layers of dust and a musty smell reminded him that for three years the rooms had sat empty. Hed kept the utilities on, paid the meager taxes, and had the lawn cut just enough so the neighbors wouldnt complain. Earlier, hed noticed that the sprawling mulberry tree out front needed trimming, the picket fence painting.He hated it here. Too many ghosts.He walked the rooms, remembering happier days. In the kitchen he could still see the jars of his mothers jam that once lined the windowsill. The thought of her brought a wave of an unusual joy that quickly faded.He should write a note and explain himself, blame somebody or something. But to who? Or what? Nobody would believe him if he told them the truth. Unfortunately, just like eight years ago, there was no one to blame but himself.Would anyone even care he was gone?Certainly not his daughter. He hadnt spoken to her in two years.His literary agent? Maybe. Shed made a lot of money off his ghostwriting. Hed been shocked to learn how many so-called bestselling fiction writers could not write a word. What had one critic said at the time of his downfall? Journalist Sagan seems to have a promising career ahead of him writing fiction.Asshole.But hed actually taken that advice.He wonderedhow do you explain taking your own life? It is, by definition, an irrational act. Which, by definition, defies explanation. Hopefully, somebody would bury him. He had plenty of money in the bank, more than enough for a respectable funeral.What would it be like to be dead?Were you aware? Could you hear? See? Smell? Or was it simply an eternal blackness. No thoughts. No feeling.Nothing at all.He walked back toward the front of the house.Outside was a glorious March day, the noontime sun bright. Florida was truly blessed with some terrific weather. Like California, without the earthquakes, where he lived before his firing. Hed miss the feel of a warm sun on a pleasant summers day.He stopped in the open archway and stared at the parlor. That was what his mother had always called the room. This was where his parents had gathered on Shabbat. Where Abiram read from the Torah. The place where Yom Kippur and Holy Days had been recognized. He recalled the sight of the pewter menorah on the far table burning. His parents had been devout Jews. After his bar mitzvah he, too, had first studied the Torah, standing before the twelve-paned windows, framed out by damask curtains his mother had taken months to sew. Shed been talented with her hands, a lovely woman, universally adored. He missed her. She died six years before Abiram, whod now been gone three.Time to end this.He studied the gun, a pistol bought a few months before at an Orlando gun show, and sat on the sofa. Clouds of dust rose, then settled. He recalled Abirams lecture about the birds and the bees as hed sat in the same spot. Hed been, what, twelve?Thirty-eight years ago.But it seemed like last week.As usual, the explanations had been rough and concise.Do you understand? Abiram asked him. Its important that you do.I dont like girls.You will. So dont forget what I said.Women. Another failure. Hed had precious few relationships as a young man, marrying Michele, the first girl whod shown serious interest in him. But the marriage ended after his firing, and thered been no more women since the downfall. Michele had taken a toll on him.Maybe Ill get to see her soon, too, he muttered.His ex-wife had died two years ago in a car crash.That was the last time he and his daughter spoke, her words loud and clear. Get out. She would not want you here.And hed left the funeral.He stared again at the gun, his finger on the trigger. He steeled himself, grabbed a breath, and nestled the barrel to his temple. He was left-handed, like nearly every Sagan. His uncle, a former professional baseball player, had told him as a child that if he could learn to throw a curveball hed make a fortune in the major leagues. Talented left-handers were rare.But hed failed at sports, too.He brought the barrel to his temple.The metal touched his skin.He closed his eyes and tightened his finger on the trigger, imagining how his obituary would start. Tuesday, March 5, former investigative journalist Tom Sagan took his own life at his parents home in Mount Dora, Florida.A little more pressure andRap. Rap. Rap.He opened his eyes.A man stood outside the front window, close enough to the panes for Tom to see the faceolder than himself, clean-cut, distinguishedand the mans right hand.Which held a photograph, pressed to the glass.He focused on the image of a young woman lying down, arms and feet extended.As if bound.He knew the face.His daughter.Alle. what is the best book to read 2019 The Columbus Affair: A Novel (with bonus short story The Admiral's Mark)
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Columbus AffairBy Dora L. DavisonTom Sagan is a journalist who has been stripped of all his awards for allegedly fabricating a story. His ex-wife is dead and he is alienated from his daughter. On the day that his life changes he is moments away from committing suicide. A stranger shows him a video of his daughter held as hostage. Tom feels that he must try to help his daughter so he does as the stranger asks up to a point, however Tom's reporter instincts kick in and he refuses to blindly follow instructions especially when his daughter is not turned over to him.This story is a work of fiction with some basis in fact. Berry explains in the afterward which is which. I enjoyed the book although I thought that it ran a little long. I thought that Cotton Malone would make an appearance but he did not. If you like adventure thriller type stories, this may be the book for you.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. This one might be Berry's best (that I have read)By Horatio GavinsSteve Berry hits another one out of the park. Multiple POVs and plot turns ratchet up the tension with some good surprise twists. This one might be his best one. I love the historical research section, and how Berry wove historical fact and mystery into the story -- making it easy to believe.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Columbus AffairBy Kindle CustomerWhat part of this was history and what part was true fiction? The background regarding the main party in this book was extensive. The story provides interesting locations and various protestant comes together toward an interesting conclusion.