The Malta Exchange

I always find the historical hooks in Steve Berry's novels intriguing.  There's always something to do further reading on long after I've finished the novel.  In this case, I was particularly interested to find his latest Cotton Malone novel The Malta Exchange (#819) involved two locales I recently visited: Malta and Rome.

Cotton Malone and Luke Daniel  of the US Justice Department's Magellan Billet are pulled separately into tracking down mysterious documents supposedly in Mussolini's possession when he was killed in 1945.  Although the two satchels he carried with him trying to escape to Switzerland are known to have contained gold, jewels and assorted documents, neither have been seen since the day of his death.  Until Cotton in his capacity of antiquarian book dealer is called in by the British to broker a deal for one of the satchels in Italy.  Nothing goes according to plan, of course.

Luke, in the meantime, has been dispensed to Malta to keep an eye on Cardinal Kastor Gallo who should be heading for Rome within hours to join the papal conclave about to start.  What is he doing in Malta at such a crucial time, and why are people trying to kill Luke for keeping an eye on him?

As the plot unfolds and the body count mounts, both the Vatican and the ancient order of The Knights of Malta are involved, playing their own high stakes games with the fate of both organizations at risk.

Steve Berry's shocking denouement, though fictional, will come as no surprise to students of EfM, but he does do an excellent job of describing the unique island of Malta and Vatican City itself.  His descriptions of the co-cathedral located in Valletta are so accurate about its astonishing beauty, I stopped to pull out my phone to flip through the many photos I took there.  The inlaid marble floor tombs he includes in the plot are real, each more amazing than the last.  And who can fail to be awed by the splendor of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome?  Reading a good book set in places you've seen with your own eyes doubles the fun.  This is definitely the case here.