The Alexandria Link

A Novel

By: Steve Berry

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Cotton Malone retired from the high-risk world of elite operatives for the U.S. State Department to lead the low-key life of a rare-book dealer. But his quiet existence is shattered when he receives an anonymous e-mail: " You have something I want. You're the only person on earth who knows where to find it. If I don't hear from you, you will be childless." His horrified ex-wife confirms that their teenage son has been kidnapped. When Malone's bookshop is burned to the ground, it becomes clear that those responsible will stop at nothing to get what they want: the lost library of Alexandria.

A cradle of historical, philosophical, literary, scientific, and religious ideas, the ancient library of Alexandria was unparalleled in the world. But 1,500 years ago, it vanished into the mists of myth and legend.

Now a cartel of wealthy international moguls is desperate to breach the library's hallowed halls, and only Malone possesses the information they need to succeed.

Pursued by a lethal mercenary, Malone crosses the globe in search of answers. His quest will lead him to England and Portugal, to the highest levels of the American government, and to a shattering outcome that will have worldwide repercussions.

©2007 Steve Berry (P)2007 Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"Berry [makes] intriguing use of ancient history, and the action certainly zooms along." (Booklist)

Very Entertaining

Before I got this book I read the reviews, first this narrator is just fine I foud this very easy to listen to. The subject matter may challenge your accepted ideas on the Bible, but we learn all the time. The story moves just fine, but maybe a little predictable. I travel often and have between 200 and 300 books on audible to I listen too, this one will be replayed. If you pass it up it is your loss.

Agony

The narrator reads so slowly that listening is agony. I have given up after the first hour.

Great Sequel

Very much enjoy Steve Berry's novels. Love the integration of fact and fiction. Novel is fast passed with lots of twists and turns. At the end of part 2 there is an interview with Steve Berry about the book and also a section discussing which places/events/people were real and which were fictional. Great Book!

Hey, it's Steve Berry.

Steve Berry: Flat characters, impossible plots, questionable dialogue, everything the critics say is pretty much right. But, these books are entertaining and will get you through just about any road trip without too much thinking.
Mr. Berry may never win a Nobel for literature, but he writes a good, quick moving "shoot 'em up" mystery in the style of the old Shadow or Doc Savage dime novels.

A bit of a yawn...

I've listened to all the books by Steve Berry and I've always been absolutely thrilled by his stories and his immagination. But this book was unfortunately a total disappointment - I actually had to start it three times. The first two times I gave it up eacht time after about 3 or 4 hours - the story was just too boring and - to my utmost swizz Scott Brick was terrible and made a very bad job. I'm Swiss and so I'm usually quite happy when the reader doesn't speak too fast, but Brick just exaggerated - he sounded like a broken audio tape, his voice ever so whining and drowsy. Well, I gave the book a third chance, hoping the second part will be better, but this wasn't the case.
The idea for the story would have been a good one, but Berry just doens't seem to have found the right kick to transform it into a thrilling adventure and remaind on a not even mediocre level.
I really hope that the Venetian Betrayal will be as good as his earlier books.

Can't wait for the credit

I usually only download audio books when I have credits but after listening to The Alexandria Link and finding it such a great story, I can't wait to back track and read The Templar Legacy. I was very sad to hear Robert Ludlum pasted away but I think i've found a new favorite author in Mr. Berry. Cotton is a character that rivals Jason Bourne and Mitch Rapp (vince flynn). Thank you Mr. Berry for your stories, please keep Paul Michael or Scott Brick as your narrators.

Very Enjoyable

I've enjoyed all of Steve Berry's books and this one did not disappoint. Bringing back Cotton Malone was a great idea as he seems to be an interesting character to build around. Good spin on taking a topic that everyone knows about and putting a different story around it. Also enjoyed the narrator who's done many other audible books.

Awful

Don't buy this book. If science fiction requires good science before it can be good fiction, good religious historical fiction (adding up to a modern mystery) requires a good grasp of both. The author has made so many egregious errors that the book is, essentially, unreadable. Of course, he also makes mistakes in modern places and events.

I almost put it down about a third of the way through, then at the half way mark. I finally finished and, frankly, I should have followed my first instinct.

Again, this book is a disaster.

Preposterous premise

This was the worst Audiobook I have listened to. And I must have listened to at least forty. The premise of the book is as follows: the library of Alexandria was saved and hidden it the desert somewhere, there is a very early bible in the library that casts doubt on God's covenent with Abraham granting the Jews greater Israel and this doubt will cause the Jews to lose much of their right to Israel. I find the premise perposterous. It requires that the Jews in the modern state of Israel give up some of their claims and lands because of a bible that is over 2000 years old. By that logic all the non-native inhabitants of the new world should all go back to where there ancestors came from. The world doesn't work that way. Virtually no one has clear title to the land they now live on. That's the basic problem, but it gets worse. The heros and villans all make amateurish mistakes. The hero takes his ex-wife on his quest. She constantly refuses to follow his requests and gets them into more trouble. He keeps her on his quest. Why?

The book has a multitude of groups and individuals searching for the library for a multitude of motives. The hero, the villan, a shadowy group called the Golden Fleece, the US government, shadowy groups in the US government, the Mosad, the Saudi Arabians, and probably more that I never got around to finding since I gave up about a third of the way through.

This book reminds of a poor version of the "DaVinci Code" and I didn't like the "good" version.

Narrator

The story is excellent, but almost destroyed by a narrator who is a ham, continually emoting and sounding more like the background voice to Disney's Haunted House than a narrator of a modern adventure novel. He tries to put excitement and emotion into simple declaratory sentences, e.g., "I'M GOING TO DO SOMETHING!!!". This sort of silliness is painful to listen to. I'll buy a Steve Berry book anytime, but will never buy one narrated by Scott Brick.

Utterly brilliant...!

If you could sum up The Alexandria Link in three words, what would they be?

Epic, fast-paced thriller!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Cotton Malone, it couldn't really be anyone else!

What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Some great depth portrayal from Scott Brick. He's really at home with this sort of story

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

James Bond meets Indiana Jones, with a bit of Dan Brown thrown in for good measure!

nice book, shame about the narrator

Once again Steve Berry delivers the goods. What spoilt it for me though, was the narrator. Scott brick has an annoying habit of letting his voice get overly dramatic with no reason - after a while it gets pretty irritating and for me spoilt what is an excellent book.

narrator murders story

The narrator kills this story with his baffling insistence on reading every sentence with high drama making it exhausting and confusing to listen to. I would have rated the story higher... but it is completely spoilt by this narrator. Save your money and listen to another of the author's audiobooks.

worth a listen

not as good as the first but this book was still a good story and I will definitely be reading the next one

An excellent book, well worth the time to listen

This is the second cotton book, I was a bit concerned with the feedback on the reader but he was ok and you get used to his style after a while. For me it's been good to listen to the books in the written order. Enjoy, I did!

A fascinatingly good yarn.

Car journeys just got quicker! Well written and excellent narration. Book 3 here I come.

Brilliant

Excellent book, can't wait to listen to the next cotton Malone story. narrator was excellent, loved listening to his voice, made the book even better.

Good Story but narrator lets this book down

If you could sum up The Alexandria Link in three words, what would they be?

An interesting story

Who was your favorite character and why?

The main characters continue to develop from the first book The Templar Legacy - which gives them more depth and interest

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

No - I'm afraid I didn't like the narrator he was not easy to listen to - if I hadn't enjoyed the story, I would not have persevered listening to it. I will in future be buying Steve Berry's books and reading them for myself.

Terribly narrated

Any additional comments?

Gave up after bravely enduring three hours of horrible narration, thus unable to say anything about the story.

Convoluted

I'm reading these books in publishing order as suggested by Fantastic Fiction and Amazon. All the way through this book references things which haven't yet happened in the previous books and there are some situations mostly involving Malone's son which would have an impact on his character in this book. I'll listen to the rest of the series and try to ignore continuity errors. I seem to recall they get better as they go along..