• The Columbus Affair

  • A Novel
  • By: Steve Berry
  • Narrated by: Scott Brick
  • Length: 16 hrs
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (781 ratings)

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The Columbus Affair  By  cover art

The Columbus Affair

By: Steve Berry
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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Publisher's summary

He was called by many names - Columb, Colom, Col - but we know him as Christopher Columbus. Many questions about him exist: Where was he born, raised, and educated? Where did he die? How did he discover the New World? None have ever been properly answered. And then there is the greatest secret of all....

From Steve Berry, New York Times best-selling author, comes an exciting new adventure - one that challenges everything we thought we knew about the discovery of America.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Tom Sagan has written hard-hitting articles from hot spots around the world. But when a controversial report from a war-torn region is exposed as a fraud, his professional reputation crashes and burns. Now he lives in virtual exile - haunted by bad decisions and the 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 with a request that cannot be ignored.

Zachariah Simon has the look of a scholar, the soul of a scoundrel, and the zeal of a fanatic. He also has Tom Sagan's estranged daughter at his mercy. Simon desperately wants something only Sagan can supply: the key to a 500-year-old mystery, a treasure with explosive political significance in the modern world.

For both Simon and Sagan the stakes are high, the goal intensely personal, and the consequences of opposing either man potentially catastrophic. On a perilous quest from Florida to Vienna to Prague and finally to the mountains of Jamaica, the two men square off in a dangerous game. Along the way, both of their lives will be altered - and everything we know about Christopher Columbus will change.

As a special bonus, this audiobook download also includes a recording of the short story "The Admiral's Mark," read by Scott Brick.

©2012 Steve Berry (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"An engrossing stand-alone thriller from bestseller Berry.” (Publishers Weekly)

“This being a Berry production, every alliance is of course fragile, and the bonds among even the heartiest teammates are up for grabs. So is the ultimate goal, for the author gradually reveals that Columbus’ lost gold mine is only chicken feed compared to the real bonanza at stake. Less The Da Vinci Code than American Treasure. Think of Nicolas Cage, tearing up the scenery as Tom Sagan, to the background beat of popping corn and you’re halfway there.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Berry raises this genre’s stakes.” (The New York Times)

What listeners say about The Columbus Affair

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • p
  • 05-22-12

I second the 'Meh" - disappointing and boring.

What did you like best about The Columbus Affair? What did you like least?

Before reading I had high hopes based on the authors prior books and the good narator. The story and the characters were just washed out versions of Berry's other books and characters. You couldn't like or really dislike any of them, they all lacked enough substance to generate any feeling. Weak plot, weak characters, I feel like I a wasted a credit because I expected much better. I get the whole flawed hero as a main character but these charaters were just boring, and the daughter as described by her backstory was educated, religious, divorced, a grown women but came across in the rest of the book as a contradication behaving more like a college student, immature, naive, whiny. I'd give this book a pass unless it was on sale.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

it lacked the thriller aspect, it just felt like a watered down version of the other (Malone) novels

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Scoot Brick is usally very good, but he sounded very monotone and unenthusiastic, it only added to the lack interest of the story

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Nope

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A puzzling possibility

Ever since grade school, we have heard the stories of Christopher Columbus and how he “discovered” America. But what if the things we learned were wrong? I never realized that so many of the details of Columbus’s life are unknown. Even the most elementary aspects of his life, such as where and when he was born, remain a mystery. Like Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code," Steve Berry is able to weave together historical facts with rumors and theories to present a possible answer to one of history’s mysteries, and does so in an enjoyable thrilling manner. I have read many novels where the author has put forth a theory regarding a historical mystery. Some I have agreed with, and some I have not. What matters more to me than accepting the authors premise is how they tell the story and is their theory believable. Another thing I liked about this book was the way Berry devoted several pages at the end of this book to discussing what is fact, what is fiction, and what is conjecture in the preceding chapters. I never thought history could be so exciting and I found myself wishing that Steve Berry had been my teacher. Overall a very enjoyable (and educational) read.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narration was disappointing

What three words best describe Scott Brick’s voice?

disappointingly forced dramatization

Any additional comments?

I have always liked Steve Berry's stories-- this one, too. But Scott Brick's narration style has changed and I do not enjoy listening to him.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Story was very week and Cotton Malone wannabe

Would you try another book from Steve Berry and/or Scott Brick?

I love Steve's books this one just feel short compared to the others. Maybe that is because I have to much into the other characters of his other books. But the action was lacking and not great on suspence.

Which scene was your favorite?

The ending to shere the relationship father and daughter was getting mended.

Could you see The Columbus Affair being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

nope do not think it would drive ticket sales due to the lack of the suspence and action.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I Enjoyed This Ride

This was my first Steve Berry novel and I enjoyed it! I enjoyed it despite Scott Brick, (Brick has ruined more audio books for me than any other reader) and I almost didn’t get it because of him, but the premise was intriguing enough – I mean, who ever really thinks about Columbus? I didn’t, but I love this type of historical fiction because it inspires me to think about the past in new and interesting ways… and the next time I see a Columbus biography in the bookstore I just might pick it up and flip through it!

The writing and storytelling here is more solid than anything from Dan Brown, but the two main characters, Tom and his daughter Alle, are a bit melodramatic – we meet Tom just as he is about to commit suicide over an apparent mistake he made some years earlier. He is interrupted by a man with a video showing his daughter being held captive by a couple of guys with rude hands who threaten to do worse to her if Tom doesn’t agree to have his father exhumed, and with him, the bad guys hope, a secret of history and religion that links Columbus and ancient Judaism to the New World! This sets Tom and Alle on a world tour adventure to discover the ultimate secret before the bad guys. The catch? Alle Does Not like or trust her father, and Tom needs to get over himself and man-up if he’s going to win this one.

Berry packs a lot into this book – the father/daughter conflict, secret sects, a Jamaican crime lord, historical flashbacks and “fun facts” about Columbus, Judaism and Jamaica – but he keeps things moving briskly enough that not even Brick’s quavering voice and clipped cadence can slow things down.

I think I'm a new Berry fan.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Meh


Just couldn't get into it maybe you can. Very disappointed with Berry's latest effort.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining enrichment

I backed the recording up, got my pencil and pad and wrote Christopher Columbus' signature, then I checked on the internet to see if I had it correctly. Almost! Because so much of Columbus journey is familiar Steve Berry is walking a fine line weaving fact w/ fiction. He also hints at the interpersonal relationships Jewish familys encounter. I can never get enough Scott Brick - he does such a great job!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining and Interesting

Entertaining and interesting. Steve Berry???s books have always promised a good read. This book was not quite as good as his ???The Jefferson Key,??? but it was more than enjoyable, ending with a bang. There were parts that were rather lengthy, but overall this book was enjoyable. Berry always does his research and the reader knows it. This book was no exception.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Columbus and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

This book had an interesting premise, based in part on fascinating history, but I found it tedious and repetitive. How many times do we have to hear that Columbus had no priest aboard, but a Hebrew translator? I would call the book an okay summer read.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Wannabe Dan Brown that reads like Charlie Brown

This is a stew of historical trivia, peopled with unlikeable heroes and dreary villains who stop in the middle of gunfights to make villainous speeches and (presumably) twirl their mustaches. It is difficult to convey how trite the endless dialogue is, what with every encounter between any two people requiring a restatement of why they do what they do and feel what they feel. The Big Reveal is promising -- but only the first time it is revealed. As it is revealed subsequently (and nearly word-for-word) to each character, the meaning sinks into the swamp of murky prose ("A gunshot that sounds like an explosion"). Basic fact-checking aside (no, there weren't 12 Lost Tribes), no case is made for why we should even believe there's a mystery here to solve. In the afterword, it sounds suspiciously like the plot was inspired -- not by history -- but by the author's interest in a tax-deductible research trip to Jamaica.

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2 people found this helpful