The Bishop's Pawn by Steve Berry

 Steve Berry’s latest Cotton Malone thriller takes us back to Cotton’s very first case. A case which itself is centered around the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Cotton is recruited by Stephanie Nell of the Justice Department. Cotton has been looking for the opportunity to advance and jumps at the chance. It appears to be a simple job of retrieving a rare coin and some classified documents, but nothing is ever that simple. Cotton finds himself shot at, betrayed, and unsure who to trust. He also discovers that the documents contain explosive information about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. He finds himself alternatively fleeing and pursuing those with information about the documents and firsthand knowledge of the events leading up to April 1968.

Steve Berry has a knack for taking historical fact and spinning it into a gripping thriller. His love of history shines through in the rock-solid foundation of his stories. He takes these moments in history and shapes an exciting story around them, keeping you engaged throughout. The thrill is heightened when you realize many of the events you are reading really happened.

Berry skillfully jumps between narratives in the late 1960’s and the late 1990’s, with a brief prologue and coda in 2018. The events in both timelines are exciting and keep you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next. Cotton is as engaging a protagonist as ever here, both familiar to longtime readers and seen freshly as a newly minted federal agent. Berry keeps the action moving with car chases, foot chases, and shootouts. These scenes are cut with conversations unraveling events and motives as well as scenes involving the civil rights movement and the lead-up to that tragic day in April 1968.

Berry surrounds Cotton with interesting and mysterious characters from Colleen Perry and her father, to the Cuban, Valdez. The cast is not simply divided up into good guys/gals and bad ones. They are that, but they each have complex motivations that allow you to identify with why they are doing what they are doing. This lends a richness to the story. Berry leads Cotton and the point to where he must make an important decision. It’s a testament to his skillful writing that the decision is so hard and leaves you wondering if you would have decided the same way.

The audio version of this book is narrated by Scott Brick, who does his usual outstanding job. There are a number of characters and accents to juggle and Brick does it seamlessly, never leaving the listener any doubt as to who is speaking. He complements the story without overpowering it. His pacing takes you through the breakneck speed of an action scene as well as the quieter moments of conversation that lend gravitas to the weight of the events. Berry adds some optional commentary which sheds further light on the events depicted in the book. Audio is an excellent way to experience this book. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to receive a copy of this book from the publisher.

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