The Templar Legacy: A Novel (Cotton Malone Book 1) by Steve Berry (Epub)

Description

The ancient order of the Knights Templar possessed untold wealth and absolute power over kings and popes . . . until the Inquisition, when they were wiped from the face of the earth, their hidden riches lost.

But now two forces vying for the treasure have learned that it is not at all what they thought it was–and its true nature could change the modern world.

Cotton Malone, one-time top operative for the U.S. Justice Department, is enjoying his quiet new life as an antiquarian book dealer in Copenhagen when an unexpected call to action reawakens his hair-trigger instincts–and plunges him back into the cloak-and-dagger world he thought he’d left behind.

It begins with a violent robbery attempt on Cotton’s former supervisor, Stephanie Nelle, who’ s far from home on a mission that has nothing to do with national security. Armed with vital clues to a series of centuries-old puzzles scattered across Europe, she means to crack a mystery that has tantalized scholars and fortune-hunters through the ages by finding the legendary cache of wealth and forbidden knowledge thought to have been lost forever when the order of the Knights Templar was exterminated in the fourteenth century. But she’s not alone. Competing for the historic prize– and desperate for the crucial information Stephanie possesses–is Raymond de Roquefort, a shadowy zealot with an army of assassins at his command.

Welcome or not, Cotton seeks to even the odds in the perilous race. But the more he learns about the ancient conspiracy surrounding the Knights Templar, the more he realizes that even more than lives are at stake. At the end of a lethal game of conquest, rife with intrigue, treachery, and craven lust for power, lies a shattering discovery that could rock the civilized world–and, in the wrong hands, bring it to its knees.

User’s Reviews

Review Praise for Steve Berry The Amber Room “Sexy, illuminating . . . my kind of thriller.”—Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code “Magnificently engrossing, with wonderful characters and a plot that speeds, twists, and turns. Pure intrigue, pure fun.”—Clive Cussler, author of Sacred Stone The Romanov Prophecy “Perfect for thriller fans and history buffs alike. Fabulous plot twists.”—David Morrell, author of The Protector “Compelling . . . adventure-filled . . . a fast-moving, globe-hopping tale of long-lost treasure and shadowy bad guys.”—San Francisco Chronicle The Third Secret “Controversial, shocking, explosive . . . rich in a wealth of Vatican insider knowledge and two thousand years of Virgin Mary visitations. The Third Secret will change our view of the relationship between religion and wisdom.”—Katherine Neville, author of The Eight From Publishers Weekly Berry goes gnostic in this well-tooled Da Vinci Code-knockoff, his fourth novel (The Romanov Prophecy). Ex-U.S. Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is intrigued when he sees a purse snatcher fling himself from a Copenhagen tower to avoid capture, slitting his own throat on the way down for good measure. Further snooping introduces him to the medieval religious order of the Knights Templar and the fervid subculture searching for the Great Devise, an ancient Templar archive that supposedly disproves the Resurrection and demolishes traditional Christian dogma. The trail leads to a French village replete with arcane clues to the archive’s whereabouts, and to an oddball cast of scholar-sleuths, including Cassiopeia Vitt, a rich Muslim woman whose special-ops chops rival Malone’s. Malone and company puzzle over the usual Code-inspired anagrams, dead language inscriptions and art symbolism, debate inconsistencies in the Gospels and regale each other with Templar lore, periodically interrupting their colloquia for running gun battles with latter-day Templar Master Raymond de Roquefort and his pistol-packing monks. The novel’s overcomplicated conspiracies and esoteric brainteasers can get tedious, and the various religious motivations make little sense. (Thankfully, the author soft-pedals the genre’s anti-Catholicism.) But lively characters and action set pieces make this a more readable, if no more plausible, version of the typical gnostic occult thriller. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist The Knights Templar, a small monastic military order formed in the early 1100s to protect travelers to the Holy Land, eventually grew and became wealthy beyond imagination. In 1307, the French king, feeling jealous and greedy, killed off the Templars, and by 1311, the last master, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake. The whereabouts of the Templars’ treasure–and their secrets–have been the subject of legend ever since. Now, a new thriller trieas to follow in the steps of The Da Vinci Code.There’s a secret about early Christianity at the core of Berry’s Templar Legacy, but he dispenses the clues too slowly. The cat-and-mouse game between Cotton Malone, a former Justice Department agent, and a modern-day order of Knights Templar is weighed down with too much confusing backstory about the Templars’ connection to Rennes-le-Chateau and the mystery that surrounds it. (The real-life town plays a part in The Da Vinci Code as well.) Like Dan Brown, Berry draws on the seminal nonfiction work Holy Blood, Holy Grail for many of his themes. After nearly grinding to a halt through all the premise building, the novel finally gathers steam in the last 100 pages or so, concluding with a revelation that seems refreshingly clear after the many convoluted twists that precede it. Until the next Dan Brown opus is released, this should hold devotees. Ilene CooperCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved From AudioFile Berry’s thriller features rival groups of the Knights Templar searching for lost treasure and a lost secret of the order. They unwittingly involve “Cotton” Malone, a one-time federal agent, now a Copenhagen-based bookseller. Brian Corrigan reads in a likable voice and varies his characters’ voices fairly well, though he makes a son and his mother sound overly similar. However, the nasally voice he gives Malone makes him sound like a pest. Still, Corrigan’s pacing is fine, his reading skills professional, and his command of the frequent accents good. In the end, though, no narration could make this poorly written novel worthwhile. W.M. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine– Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ I bought this on a whim – I’ve heard some good things about Berry and I have to say, his writing style did not disappoint. And yes, it’s entirely fair to say this is, er, “inspired” by Dan Brown.But I think it goes a little far to call it an outright knockoff. Cotton Malone makes for an intriguing protagonist, and the story moves along within his characterization. By that I mean I don’t have to suspend a whole lot of disbelief to accept startling leaps of insight and intuition from the characters.The story itself is, well, I’m not sure it matters. I mean, the plot for thrillers doesn’t have to be documentary-quality. Suffice it to say that facts cited aren’t inaccurate, the story itself is plausible and works with its own internal logic, and it’s not something that makes me roll my eyes. There are certain sequences in the book that had me turning pages…well, pressing the Next Page button on my Kindle anyway.In short, it’s an enjoyable read…a good overview of history to make it accessible to the interested lay reader, enough facts to keep it interesting for those who know more about the history in question, and Berry does interesting things with it all to turn it into a work of fiction. It’s a good book.

⭐ Interesting and very detailed plot. Premise revealed at end of book is that Christ was not resurrected, so the basis of Christianity is a lie. It’s an interesting plot with varied twists and turns to get there, but I suspect that for true Christians, this will make them feel they wasted their time reading the book. For non-Christians, however, this will reinforce their belief that Christians are all fools to believe what they do. I can’t recommend the book.

⭐ A fun read in much the same vain as the Da Vinci Code and an Indiana Jones movie. At the end of the book Berry describes what was fact, what was fiction and what was gray area between the two.My only quibble is that he sometimes frames what is fairly commonly known Biblical history and tries to make it sound like scholarly knowledge known only to a few. But, then again, he wrote this for mass consumption and most people probably would not know those common facts.Overall a fun read combining the Knights Templar, a smattering of alternative theology and a spy novel.

⭐ I have read several of the Cotton Malone Series, obviously out of order. This is by far the weakest. The plot is not bad but the Author bites off much more than he can chew with the multiple twists that bog down rather than promote the story line. His limited understanding of history, Textual criticism, and archeology as it relates to ancient texts is too distracting for the advanced story line. This one was a swing and a miss for me.

⭐ ‘Nuff said. Far too “Dan Brown-ish” with anti-theological assumptions that are beyond ignorant and have been proved false repeatedly. This could have been so much better.

⭐ I have started my adventure with Cotton Malone and it was a thrilling and wild ride. I mean right from the get go we were thrown into some heavy action with little knowledge of why. We are however introduced to our lead character of Cotton Malone, but this story is not just told from his perspective. It is actually told from a few others as well, including the main villain, a character know as the Seneschal, and sometimes from Cotton’s former boss Stephanie Nelle.So Cotton formerly worked for the Justice Department until one incident pushes him into an early retirement. The story itself picks up a year after that where Cotton lives in Copenhagen as a sort of Book Antiquer. One day he gets a call from his former boss Stephanie that she will be in the area and it takes off from there. Cotton was a really great character to follow from. I’m intrigued by his overall persona and want to get to know more about him. Stephanie was an okay character, I liked her but she definitely could have been fleshed out a little more. This book really focuses a lot about her past but I was more intrigued by everything else going on. The character that hit me the most was actually the villain of the story. His drive, his tenacity, the lines he was willing to cross were executed very very well. Especially with this book focusing a lot on the Templar’s and of course the truth behind them.The Templar Legacy did a fantastic job with the overall mystery and really keeping the reader on the edge. I know I was for pretty much the entirety of the book. I think the one thing I had a tad issue with was near the 75% mark the story and mystery became very info dumpy which I totally understood but it was at times quite repetitive. There was also a reveal in the book towards the end that I didn’t particularly feel was necessary but it was minor.I overall thoroughly enjoyed this book and I cannot wait to read more of Cotton Malone’s stories.

⭐ This author puts the story up front, as real feeling as it gets. Your going to love this. Easy read, fast paced, with great characters that almost grab you by the hand and drag you along for the greatest adventure imaginable. If edge of your seat adventure is on your list then beside it will be this book. All the way to the end you are going to be part of each thrill and move the characters make. This author put his all into making this story one of the very best ever written about the Templars. The only one thing I didn’t like, characters names. Give everybody simple names, I don’t want my mind pronouncing some of these names, it slows me down. So, get your glasses, and don’t miss a single word. Enjoy.

⭐ I enjoy Steve Berry’s books and have read most of them. So I decided to read “The Templar Legacy” again after having read it several years ago. Berry does a lot of historical research for his books which he weaves throughout his edge-of-your-seat novels. His descriptions of the settings and actions makes you feel like you’re right there participating in the events. My only complaint with “Templar” is that, toward the end, I became confused by all the characters and action and details of the story; I’ll blame it on my getting older. Otherwise, a good read, and you’ll learn a lot of history about the Templars.

⭐ I had read a few of his latter stories so was interested in starting from the beginning….not that a lot of backstory is included here except perhaps his intro to Cassiopeia so order of series doesn’t seem that critical. I really enjoy how Berry brings a bit of conspiracy and “what if” into each story – the best part of Historical fiction. I found the details into the Templars and the discrepancies between the gospels and the crucifixion fascinating. Some jived with my existing feelings especially in relationship toorganized religion- ” A tool used by men to manipulate other men to provide answers to questions have have none.”RE the Bible : “It’s a book of stories . Glorious stories , designed to point people toward a good life . There’s even greatness in those stories — if one practices their moral . I don’t think it’s necessary that it’s the Word of God . It’s enough that the words are a timeless truth . ”“Faith, not fact, defines it … faith also eliminates logic.”

⭐ Cotton Malone has retired from the Service, but a visit from his ex-boss, Stephanie, almost immediately gets him involved in the action when a thief steals her purse. Malone chases the thief who, when cornered, throws himself off the top of the tower. Stephanie retrieves the stolen purse which contains her late husband’s diary filled with notes of his research on the possible reemergence of the Templars and clues to the location of their lost treasure. Thus begins the convoluted search by several parties (with good or bad intent) to recover the wealth of the Templars. Lots of action, puzzles solved, and just a good romp. Fun to read, if a bit long.

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