The Charlemagne Pursuit: A Novel

Berry's novels are generally complex and follow a predictable, yet enjoyable, roadmap. This is no exception, with well researched characters and plot line.

Highly recommended and, of course, the narration is outstanding.

I enjoyed this book although it didn't grip me the way The Romanov Prophecy or The Templar Legacy did. But, still the auther weaves a good take, throws in some historical perspective, and make it an interesting story. If you've enjoyed his other books you'll enjoy this one as well.

Simultaneous story lines, nobody does it better than Scott Brick. Steve Berry has written another winner, entertaining all the way though.

Fast-paced, super intrigue, action and suspense, with great twists. Very addictive. Berry is a superb author and every Scott Brick narrated novel reigtns supreme.

Steve Berry's ability to weave genujine mysteries of history into a tale of intrigue, suspense and action is well displayed in this latest novel. Cotton Malone, ex government operative turned book seller, is back and uses his physical training, eidetic memory and skills to solve the riddle of his father's death. His pursuit of this information involves Naval Intelligence, ancient civilizations, Nazi Germany's interest in antartica, and a domineering German matriarch who manipulates the people around her in way that leads to many deaths. There is also a large number or murders in this story...the murders are in Europe, the US and antartica - no one seems safe from the killers in this story. Also, the President of the United States involves his top national security advisors in completely illegal activities to undercover political plots that happen to interset with Cotton's quest..

The book starts a bit weakly as it was clear to me why and how mysteriies around the reign of Charlemagne would have anything to do with the death of Cottons' father...they seem to be just trying to solve the mystery without any idea of what the answer to the riddle would supply. However, the different threads of the story eventually tie together - although it requires a good healthy suspension of belief.

At the end of the book the author tells what's true and what isn't true about the story. As always, much of the interesting historical facts that are used are real...this makes the reading particularly enjoyable as Berry concocts his own story around these mysteries....makes you want to travel to the places in the book to see for yourself.

I thought, overall, this was the best Berry novel yet.

The only negative comment I have is that the reader's rendition of the German accent for the matriarch reminded me of Cloris Leachman's rule in Young Frankenstein...

If you like suspense in the form of "The DiVinci Code", you'll love this one. Cotton Malone has his hands full but is very cool through the whole book. It is a real page turner and full of twists and turns. I HIGHLY recommend it!

Scott Brick is way too camp in this reading. His habit of ending descriptive passages as though Dracula was about to emerge from his coffin, in a breathy, soap opera delivery is irritating to the extreme. This is one time that I ditched the audio book and read the hard copy. So disappointed in Scott Brick. Give me Paul Michael any day. A much much better narrator for Steve Berry's work.

I just want to give a star rating. If you force me to say more, I will give you this tripe.

I just want to give a star rating. If you force me to say more, I will give you this tripe.

I just want to give a star rating. If you force me to say more, I will give you this tripe.

I just want to give a star rating. If you force me to say more, I will give you this tripe.

I just want to give a star rating. If you force me to say more, I will give you this tripe.

Every book seems to want to duplicate the formula of the Davinci code and play off of the magic. This book is okay and could probably be made into a movie that is much better than the Davinci Code movie, but that isn't saying a lot. This book really ends up being closer to the Hunt for Red October than it does the Code anyway.

It is okay, but it isn't spectacular either.

Had trouble following the story probably because I couldn't listen to it straight through. It jumps from one scene to another like a Ludlum novel, which tells me it has to be read (or heard) in LONG stretches to make sense. I found myself mocking the narrator's style out loud in the car...The descriptive passages were fine, but almost every line of dialogue was spoken the same way (even the ones with the German accents). There was little distinction between male, female, friend, foe, old, young...they all sounded to me like they'd been press-fit into the mold of Mae West's "Come up and SEE me sometime, big boy." I don't know any real human beings who actually talk that way, and so I found myself pretty disgusted with the narrator.