I had read and loved Steve Berry's first three novels - The Amber Room, The Romanov Prophecy and The Third Secret - but last year when The Templar Legacy came out I saw several unfavorable reviews and passed it by. Suspense thrillers with historical background and current mysterious stories woven together are just what I enjoy! In 2007 The Alexandria Link was published and with a trip to Alexandria in my near future, I had to read it.
The main characters in the Alexandria book had also appeared in The Templar Legacy and it was mentioned several times, so I became intrigued and decided to read it. I was not disappointed.
The Knights Templar was a small monastic military order formed in the early 1100s to protect travelers to the Holy Land. They grew and gained wealth beyond imagination and in 1307 Phillip the Fair, King of France, became jealous and greedy and killed them off. The whereabouts of the Templars' treasure and historical library was never revealed - and thereby hangs this tale!
At the end of the book, Berry writes what he calls “Writer's Notes” for the benefit of those readers who seem to believe if it's in a book, it's true. Personally I just revel in the wonderful imagination of the writer and enjoy the story. BUT Berry explains which aspects of his book are facts and which come wholly from his imagination. I am still amazed at all the furor and controversy The Da Vinci Code generated.
Cotton Malone has retired from the U.S. Justice Department's elite Magellan Billet and has opened a bookseller's shop in Copenhagen's H
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