The Columbus Affair

April 2, 2012
This engrossing stand-alone thriller from bestseller Berry (The Third Secret) assumes the premise that Columbus was a Jew, Christoval Arnoldo de Ysassi, forced to convert to Christianity, and that aboard his ships were sacred artifacts rescued from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, including a golden menorah, which he hid on his last voyage to the New World. On the trail of those artifacts and a rumored gold mine are Béne Rowe, a wealthy and powerful Jamaican Maroon, and Zachariah Simon, a Jew intent on returning the artifacts to Jerusalem. The grave of Abiram Sagan, father of disgraced reporter Tom Sagan, may hold the key to finding the treasures. Simon succeeds in reawakening the reporter’s dormant investigative skills, prompting a quest that wends through Vienna, Prague, and 500 years of history before culminating in the caves of Jamaica. Berry’s imaginative mix of Judaic and Columbus lore as well as Tom’s transformation from suicidal flop to heroic everyman should please his many fans. Author tour. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House.

April 15, 2012
Was Columbus Jewish? The answer may matter a lot more than you think. Five hundred years after his fourth and last voyage to the New World, the Admiral of the Ocean Sea is back in the news again, and wealthy Austrian Jew Zachariah Simon and Jamaican crime lord Bene Rowe have taken notice. Convinced that Columbus, of whose life nearly nothing is known for certain, took to his grave the secret location of a gold mine in Jamaica, they team up, at least briefly, to put pressure on disgraced ex-journalist Tom Sagan to tell them what he knows. And since Tom, who's fallen into depression since a questionable Mideast news story forced him to return his Pulitzer and condemned him to life as a ghostwriter, is about to kill himself, he's going to need special motivation. This Simon supplies in the form of a live video of Sagan's estranged daughter, Alle Becket, groped by mercenaries as she writhes bound and gagged on a bed. Tom's not to know that Alle, still seething with hatred for the father who neglected her, has helped stage her videotaped victimization. Also in the hunt are Brian Jamison, who says he's an American intelligence officer from something called the Magellan Billet; Frank Clarke, of the Charles Town Council of Elders; and the 102-year-old Rabbi Berlinger, of Prague's Old-New Synagogue, who's convinced that the apostate Tom is the latest Levite. This being a Berry production (The Emperor's Tomb, 2010, etc.), every alliance is of course fragile, and the bonds among even the heartiest teammates are up for grabs. So is the ultimate goal, for the author gradually reveals that Columbus' lost gold mine is only chicken feed compared to the real bonanza at stake. Less The Da Vinci Code than American Treasure. Think of Nicolas Cage tearing up the scenery as Tom Sagan to the background beat of popping corn, and you're halfway there.

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Starred review from May 1, 2012

In his first stand-alone thriller since 2005, Berry (The Jefferson Key) takes advantage of the enigma that was Christopher Columbus to create a fascinating blend of legends, fables, contested historical facts, and imaginative fiction. Tom Sagan, a disgraced journalist of Jewish descent, is about to commit suicide when he is coerced into a plot to decipher secrets hidden in the coffin of his father. Sagan's estranged daughter, Alle, has fallen into the hands of ruthless Zachariah Simon, a wealthy Orthodox Jew in search of a treasure supposedly hidden by Columbus somewhere in Jamaica. Simon has temporarily allied himself with Bene Rowe, a Jamaican Maroon, descendant of runaway slaves, who has his own reasons for finding the treasure. But does it exist and, if so, what exactly is it? Many will risk their lives to learn the truth. VERDICT Thriller readers--from fans of Dan Brown's ciphers to Clive Cussler's fantastic adventures--will savor this intoxicating amalgam of Taino (indigenous) myth, Maroon legend, the history of Jews in Jamaica, the peregrinations of Temple treasures following Titus's sacking of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., and Columbus's mysterious deeds in the West Indies. Sure to be another best seller. [See Prepub Alert, 11/7/11; library marketing.]--Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2012
At first, readers might wonder why Berry has introduced a new protagonist, disgraced investigative journalist Tom Sagan, for this story that involves a nasty villain and an ancient historical mystery. This seems like prime material for Cotton Malone, Berry's series hero, but we soon see that Malone wouldn't fit here. Sagan, who was stripped of his Pulitzer Prize after an accusation of plagiarism, is approached by a man who has abducted Sagan's daughter. Unless Tom helps him uncover the truth about Christopher Columbus and a lost treasure, Tom's daughter is in mortal danger. The book is full of twists and turns, and it's quite a bit grittier and darker than the Malone novels. We sense real danger here, not the faux danger that puts Malone in seeming jeopardy (although we know nothing bad will actually happen to him), and Zachariah Simon, the man who uses Tom's daughter's life as leverage, is a believable and formidable villain. It's something different for Cotton Malone fanssomething different and also something very good. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Berry's books have been translated into 40 languages and sold in 51 countries; don't be surprised if his latest sweeps still farther around the globe.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)