The Charlemagne Pursuit "The Charlemagne Pursuit" is Steve Berry's fourth novel featuring Cotton Malone, an ex-Justice Department agent as his protagonist. Malone has retired and is living in Copenhagen as a bookseller. All his life, Cotton has been shadowed by the death of his father. He pulls in a favor from Stephanie Nelle to look at classified material detailing the nuclear sub accident in which his father died in 1971. When he receives the documentation, he is brutally attacked by two people who are after the papers. When Malone reads the papers, he learns that his father's sub went missing in the Antarctic instead of the North Atlantic as the family had been told. Another family is also looking for the truth concerning the submarine's travels. Twin sisters Dorothea Lindauer and Christi Falk are competing with each other to discover what their father was searching for while on the sub. They know a little more about the research that was a part of the mission. The sisters have clues from books owned by their father and grandfather. Artifacts from Charlemagne's Throne and journals written in "the language of heaven" give direction to their search. Their father had done extensive research concerning possible Aryan ancestors of the Germans. He also went missing on the experimental sub's last mission.

This is a suspense novel of The Da Vinci Code type. Ancient civilizations, clues that are found as a part of historical monuments and the need to decipher coded messages play a major role along with the threat of physical violence that moves the plot along. Danger comes from Langford Ramsay, a naval admiral involved in assassination as a part of his campaign to be selected for the nation's Joint Chiefs of Staff. These two plot lines finally merge in a graphic manner.

When you read a novel set in these varied and dramatic locations, you wish the novel had the kind of photographs that usually only accompany a non-fiction book. This author has taken care of that desire on his web page. At www.steveberry.org, a photo gallery can be viewed. A German Christmas market, Biltmore, Charlemagne's throne, and exterior and interior shots of an early 20th century cabin in the Antarctic are shown. The Antarctic explorers' cabin is especially poignant. The photograph shows the same preservation by the extremely cold and dry air of the Antarctic that is featured in the novel. [1-10-09]

The Fourth Watcher Poke Rafferty is a fictional "rough-travel' writer living in Bangkok. He writes a series of travel books called Looking for Trouble and the sites he describes for tourists are somewhat edgy, but relatively safe. The novel "The Fourth Watcher" is the second book that Timothy Hallinan has written about Rafferty.

Rafferty had a very unhappy childhood. He spent most of his time in a desolate house in California with his Philippine mother. His father had built the house and then abandoned his family. Rafferty's mother called her husband a "yellow" American, because of his fondness for the Far East and it is as if Rafferty had inherited his father's interests. As soon as he is old enough to accumulate the money, he traveled to the Orient. Eventually, he has settled in Bangkok and formed a family.

The title of the book comes from the beginning action of this novel. Rafferty is walking the streets of an upscale shopping area of Bangkok when he realizes that his is being followed. He is able to spot three "watchers", one by one. He attempts evasive movements and is sure he has eluded all three. Just as Rafferty considers turning the contest around and trying to follow one of the trio, a man steps out of a doorway and shoots Rafferty directly in the face. In the next chapter the author reveals that this situation has been created at Rafferty's request by an ex-CIA agent named Arnold Prettyman. Rafferty wants to learn a little about what it is like to work covert intelligence in a country where many of the world's secret service agencies operate. He was shot in the face with a spray of perfume.

Rafferty's girlfriend, Rose, and her business partner are accused of passing counterfeit money. When the investigation begins, they learn that the North Koreans are flooding the world's markets with these bogus bills. During this ongoing investigation, Frank Rafferty appears. Poke had very little interest in reuniting with his father, but they are forced into a partnership as Korean and Chinese gangs both have an interest in the bogus money. Frank has some old connections which are putting Poke, Rose, and the orphan Miaow who is a part of their household, in jeopardy. The world of triads and counterfeiters always remember old grudges. Frank has a history that puts him at risk, but he also has the ability to help Poke pull off a devious turnaround.
[1-18-09]