Ballantine Books (US), 2007 (paperback, 485 p., in English)
Fiction, Suspense, Adventure
The Alexandria Link is Steve Berry's fifth novel, published in 2007. On the heels of Berry's New York Times best seller The Templar Legacy, this the second fact-based novel to feature Cotton Malone, a former employee of the covert branch of the U.S. Justice Department. The plot is based on the mystery of the ancient Library of Alexandria, once the largest library in the world, which mysteriously vanished 1,500 years ago.
According to Wikipedia, the book received mixed responses from viewers; mostly positive responses about the plot and the style of writing, but critical responses about the way the 1948 Arab-Israeli War is portrayed.
Plot summary:
Cotton Malone retired from the high-risk world of elite operatives for the U.S. Justice Department to lead the low-key life of a rare-book dealer in Denmark. 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. Go get it. You have 72 hours. If I don't hear from you, you will be childless." His teenage son has been kidnapped.
When Malone's Copenhagen bookshop is burned to the ground, it becomes brutally clear that those responsible will stop at nothing to get what they want — the lost Library of Alexandria. A cartel of wealthy international moguls and businessmen based in Austria, bent on altering the course of history, is desperate to breach the ancient library — and only Malone possesses the information where to find it.
Malone, together with his ex-wife, Pam, travel the globe in search of answers. Their quest will lead them to England, Portugal and Egypt; even to the highest levels of American government. At stake is an ancient biblical document with the potential to change the destiny of the entire Middle East as well as shake the world's three major religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) to their very foundations.
Interesting quotes and extracts from the book:
"Knowledge is the first thing eradicated once power is attained. History has proven that over and over. [...] The Bible fundamentally changed mankind. The Koran likewise. The Magna Carta. The American Constitution. Billions of people govern their lives by those words. Society has ben altered by them. It's not so much the wars as the treaties that follow that truly alter the course of history. The Marshall Plan changed the world more expressly than World War II itself. Words are indeed the true weapons of mass destruction." (Page 178)
The book is full of twists and turns, very fast-paced and well written. I finished reading it in less than two days.
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