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Lunch » Tags » Untagged » The Columbus Affair: A Novel » User review

Nice Tale With a Good Historical Perspective

  • May 3, 2012
Exclusive to the Lunch Network
Rating:
+5
This is a nice book that makes one rethink the whole Columbus tale. Berry has done an incredible amount of research into who Columbus was and what he might have done when he was in Jamaica. Tom Sagan is a disgraced reporter about to take his life. He is interrupted by a man (Zacharia Simon) who persuades him not to do it because he has Tom's daughter hostage. Simon wants Tom to exhume his father's grave, and then he will free Tom's daughter and Tom can then do what he wants.

What follows leads to a search for a lost treasure that Columbus may have hidden. The story goes from Jamaica to Austria with a lot of history thrown in It is an interesting mix with Jews from Spain who became "Conversos" to avoid death by the Inquisition, who like the Puritans, came to the New World to escape religious persecution.

While Tom tries to solve the riddles, he must save his estranged daughter, who doesn't trust him. Besides Simon, another faction led by Brian is after the treasure (early on revealed to be lost items from the second Jewish Temple that was was destroyed 2,000 years ago). Meanwhile a Jamaican strongman (Benny Rowe) learns about the treasure too and becomes interested in finding it because Simon is his rival and to find it first would serve well as a bargaining chip.

The history is presented in an intersting way, whether it be Columbus and his Hebrew trasnlator, or the Maroons and Jews of Jamiaca or the Golem stories of Austria. The author gives an afterword and most of the history presented in the book was what actually happened. This book kept me hooked from start to finish.

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May 03, 2012
Bravo.
 
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More The Columbus Affair: A Novel reviews
review by . April 02, 2012
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More
This is a stand alone novel from Mr. Berry that does not include his usual protagonist Cotton Malone, although there are some references to the organization involved with Mr. Malone. We have in this book a wrongly disgraced world famous reporter who is at the end of his rope when he discovers that his daughter has been kidnaped and he must help the kidnappers or she will be killed.      That's the beginning of a very suspenseful ride through history, and the story of Columbus …
see all The Columbus Affair: A Novel reviews (2)
About the reviewer

Ranked #11
I first got on this blog to discuss my first passion which is books. Since I have gotten on I find that books are only a piece of this blog and I can discuss just about anything that comes to mind. It … more
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About this product

Wiki

Praise for Steve Berry
 
“Berry raises this genre’s stakes.”—The New York Times
 
“As always with Steve Berry, you’re educated about significant things while your knuckles are turning white and the pages are flying by.”—#1New York Timesbestselling author David Baldacci
 
“For those in need of a comparison, think Jack Bauer and the hit television series24,with twists, turns, schemes and counter-schemes manifesting themselves by the second. . . . Berry’s on a roll.”—Los Angeles Times
 
“I love this guy.”—#1New York Timesbestselling author Lee Child
 
“Forget Clancy and Cussler. When it comes to this genre, there is simply no one better.”—The Providence Journal
 
“Steve Berry writes with the self-assured style of a veteran.”—#1New York Timesbestselling author Dan Brown
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"A Steve Berry book without Cotton Malone"
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