I love the way Amazon creates these sly little “Suggestions for You” lists that offer their idea of what you might like based on what you've bought in the past. It’s a sneaky way to get you to spend money and expand your book collection. For someone like me, who reads all kinds of stuff on all kinds of subjects the list is often a godawful jumble but I do find nuggets of gold in it.
A few weeks back Steve Berry's books showed up on my list, probably because I'd ordered a couple books by Daniel Silva, so I ordered two of them, The Third Secret and The Templar Legacy. I finished them recently so here I am. First of all let me say Berry writes well. I never found myself getting annoyed at the writing style as I invariably do with Dan Brown so that is a plus although let me plead with Mr. Berry, should this blog ever come to his attention, please don't make Cotton “scamper” ever again. Please. Tough, hard-boiled, former Justice Department heroes do not scamper, they just don't. They stride, they leap, run, bound, dart, dash, rush, spring and tear after but they don't scamper. Especially when they are named Cotton because, you see, sir, it makes him sound like a demented rabbit when he scampers after the bad guys, okay? Thanks.
Ever since The DaVinci Code there has been an explosion of books with themes based in the history, mysteries and lore of the Roman Catholic Church. Since The Church is one of the oldest, centrally-located, continually operating institutions on earth there is a lot to draw on and, since we live in an era when it is very fashionable to denigrate the Church and its members some writers have run amok with this. Fortunately for us Catholics Berry uses the history and lore but manages to avoid, or at least soft-peddle, outright abuse and criticism of the Church. He is not afraid to take issue with certain personalities and issues within the Church which is fine --- most Catholics feel that way, too. But he manages to explore the history, use the mystique to build his plots without grandstanding or pontificating (I love using that word when writing about the Church). Good for him.
He does an excellent job with research. Both stories focus on very interesting, mysterious aspects of Church history. In The Third Secret he creates a thriller around the three secrets given by Our Lady to the children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. He weaves into the story other visitations by Our Lady as well as the writings of St. Malachy. The tale takes the reader inside the Vatican and into some of the more intriguing mysteries like the secret archives and the rituals that surround Conclave and the election of a new Pope. The characters in the story, a pope and his secretary, a requisite villainous cardinal with his holy henchmen, a surly, reclusive translator-priest in a remote Romanian village, and, of course, the-girl-he-left-behind (he being the handsome, Irish papal secretary.) Mix this all together and the game's afoot.
In The Templar Legacy Berry revisits elements of the story told in The DaVinci Code with less fantasy and more substance. Here retired Justice Department operative Cotton Malone leaves his peaceful retirement in Denmark to travel to the village of Rennes-le-Chateau in search of a mysterious book. He is accompanied by his former JD supervisor Stephanie Nelle whose late husband made a life's work of studying the Knights Templar, those intriguing warrior-priests, and the treasure they are alleged to have secreted in the French Pyrenees. There they encounter a modern day band of Templars with the requisite Templar Father General Bad Guy. And, again, the game's afoot.
As I said before, Berry writes nicely (except for that scampering thing) and his research is sufficiently extensive to keep the story fascinating. In both cases I found the plots a little fantastical but then, when you think about it, why wouldn't they be? When a plot involves contemporary Knights Templar and secret messages handed out by the Mother of God, well, it's not like chasing down gun-runners, terrorists, or drug cartels, is it? I see that NPR has named The Templar Legacy to its Top 100 Thrillers list! Bravo! Both books were a darn fine read and I know I'll read more by Mr. Berry. Cotton Malone is no Gabriel Allon (Daniel Silva's captivating hero) but he's a big improvement over the meretricious Robert Langdon (I'll even grant that “scampering” isn't as annoying as “Harrison Ford in Harris tweed”.)
The Venetian Betrayal arrived yesterday from Amazon. Darn those Amazon people anyway...
Thanks for reading.
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