The Columbus Affair: A Novel (with bonus short story The Admiral's Mark)
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3.9 • 554 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
A family’s secret, a ruthless fanatic, and a covert arm of the American government—all are linked by a single puzzling possibility:
What if everything we know about the discovery of America was a lie? What if that lie was designed to hide the secret of why Columbus sailed in 1492? And what if that 500-year-old secret could violently reshape the modern political world?
Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist Tom Sagan has written hard-hitting articles from hot spots around the world. But when one of his stories from the Middle East is exposed as a fraud, his professional reputation crashes and burns. Now he lives in virtual exile—haunted by bad decisions and a shocking truth he can never prove: that his downfall was a deliberate act of sabotage by an unknown enemy. But before Sagan can end his torment with the squeeze of a trigger, fate intervenes in the form of an enigmatic stranger. This stranger forces Sagan to act—and his actions attract the attention of the Magellan Billet, a top-secret corps of the United States Justice Department that deals with America’s most sensitive investigations. Sagan suddenly finds himself caught in an international incident, the repercussions of which will shudder not only Washington, D.C., but also Jerusalem. Coaxed into a deadly cat-and-mouse game, unsure who’s friend and who’s foe, Sagan is forced to Vienna, Prague, then finally into the Blue Mountains of Jamaica—where his survival hinges on his rewriting everything we know about Christopher Columbus.
Don’t miss Steve Berry’s short story “The Admiral’s Mark” in the back of the book.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This engrossing stand-alone thriller from bestseller Berry (The Third Secret) assumes the premise that Columbus was a Jew, Christoval Arnoldo de Ysassi, forced to convert to Christianity, and that aboard his ships were sacred artifacts rescued from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, including a golden menorah, which he hid on his last voyage to the New World. On the trail of those artifacts and a rumored gold mine are B ne Rowe, a wealthy and powerful Jamaican Maroon, and Zachariah Simon, a Jew intent on returning the artifacts to Jerusalem. The grave of Abiram Sagan, father of disgraced reporter Tom Sagan, may hold the key to finding the treasures. Simon succeeds in reawakening the reporter's dormant investigative skills, prompting a quest that wends through Vienna, Prague, and 500 years of history before culminating in the caves of Jamaica. Berry's imaginative mix of Judaic and Columbus lore as well as Tom's transformation from suicidal flop to heroic everyman should please his many fans. Author tour.
Customer Reviews
Interesting Story
Good story but far from his best. A little slow at times.
Not what I anticipated
This was my first Steve Berry novel and I do hope that it is not indicative of his well known series with 'Cotton'. I found the premise of this story to be intriguing, but it was presented in a very long, drawn out, redundant and somewhat boring book. Not to be compared to the better historical adventures that I have read.
Not what I'd expect...
This is a deviation from Mr. Berry's 'Cotton Malone' series, and what a deviation it is. It smells of Daniel Silva, the movie 'Goonies' and a ghost writer.
I was disappointed in the storyline, and the awkward nature that the Magellan Groups was referred to. It seemed like it was just a blunted attempt at the ever attempted Columbus conspiracy theory with twists of ill attempted history. Sorry Steve, I muddled through it but it was hard.