The 14th Colony
A Novel
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- USD 12.99
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- USD 12.99
Descripción editorial
Bestselling author Steve Berry’s trademark mix of history and speculation is all here in this provocative Cotton Malone thriller, The 14th Colony.
What happens if both the president and vice-president-elect die before taking the oath of office? The answer is far from certain—in fact, what follows would be nothing short of total political chaos.
Shot down over Siberia, ex-Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is forced into a fight for survival against Aleksandr Zorin, a man whose loyalty to the former Soviet Union has festered for decades into an intense hatred of the United States.
Before escaping, Malone learns that Zorin and another ex-KGB officer, this one a sleeper still embedded in the West, are headed overseas to Washington D.C. Noon on January 20th—Inauguration Day—is only hours away. A flaw in the Constitution, and an even more flawed presidential succession act, have opened the door to disaster and Zorin intends to exploit both weaknesses to their fullest.
Armed with a weapon leftover from the Cold War, one long thought to be just a myth, Zorin plans to attack. He’s aided by a shocking secret hidden in the archives of America’s oldest fraternal organization—the Society of Cincinnati—a group that once lent out its military savvy to presidents, including helping to formulate three invasion plans of what was intended to be America’s 14th colony—Canada.
In a race against the clock that starts in the frozen extremes of Russia and ultimately ends at the White House itself, Malone must not only battle Zorin, he must also confront a crippling fear that he’s long denied, but which now jeopardizes everything.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Berry's 11th Cotton Malone thriller (after 2015's The Patriot Threat) offers a clever variation on the theme of racing against the clock to avert national disaster. In 1982 in Vatican City, Ronald Reagan and John Paul II have a private meeting, in which they plot the end of the Soviet Union by concerted political, economic, and spiritual pressure. In the present day, the impending end of the administration of President Danny Daniels also signals the closing of the Magellan Billet, a covert intelligence unit within the Justice Department. Meanwhile, the unit's leader and Malone's old boss, Stephanie Nelle, sends him on what should be a simple reconnaissance mission to Russia, but, of course, it isn't. The story line expands to include missing nukes, a society formed by U.S. army officers after the Revolutionary War, and a dying man's cryptic reference to the "zero amendment." Richer characterizations and more thoughtful suspense elevate this above similar 24-like stories. Author tour.
