Book Review: ‘The Malta Exchange’ Is The Next Thrilling Cotton Malone Novel

Cotton Malone is back and in the thick of it yet again. An assignment for M16 in Malta to find private letters between Mussolini and Winston Churchill from WWII he finds a lot more than he bargained for. The letters have been missing since Mussolini was killed and could change history. One person wants a lot of money for them, while others want them for more personal reasons. Soon Cotton is under attack and finds a strange ring that dates back centuries back to the Knights Of Malta.

Back in Rome the Pope has died and Cardinals are arriving to pick a new Pope. Luke Daniels is also here on an assignment that soon overlaps with Cotton. The hunt is on to find the ancient Nostra Trinita. There are forces both good and bad who want it. Cotton and Luke find themselves working with people that they’re not sure about. Sure enough there are a lot of betrayals, back-stabbing and dead bodies piling up. A diabolical plot has been hatched to get one man as the next Pope and certain people will do whatever it takes to make it happen. This goes all the way to top people in the church. It leads to a shocking climax at the Vatican.

Steve Berry is the king of historical fiction with his Cotton Malone series. This is book number 14 and he never disappoints the reader. Cotton is on of the best characters in novels today. The stories, settings and action that Steve does is just outstanding. He goes to the locations he writes about and really does his research. I look forward to my yearly visits with Cotton and I only wish I didn’t have to wait so long between novels.

You can pick up The Malta Exchange in stores on Tuesday, March 5th from Minotaur Books.