The Warsaw Protocol

<b>THE WARSAW PROTOCOL</b> by Steve Berry is the fifteenth book in the Cotton Malone series. While it works well as a standalone, you will get better insight into Cotton’s character if you have read prior books in the series.<br /><br />Cotton Malone is a former Justice Department intelligence agent who now owns a rare book shop in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is in Belgium to attend Europe’s largest antiquarian book fair. While there, he decides to go to the Basilica of the Holy Blood, a 12th-century building that is more to one of Europe’s most sacred reliquaries, the Holy Blood, one of the relics comprising the Arma Christi. When three men steal the relic, the thriller accelerates in pace and Cotton is pulled into another adventure.<br /><br />This is a well written novel with action taking place in Belgium, Poland, and Slovakia. As a reader we learn about history, religion and politics at the same time as we experience lots of thrills, action, adventure and suspense. The characters and situation are memorable and the story line is exciting and entertaining. Berry’s descriptions bring the places and characters to life better than most writers today without detracting or slowing down the action. <br /><br />He always does a great job at the end of each book sharing what was fiction versus reality for events, places and people. The amount of research that went into this book is extraordinary. This was my fifth book by this author that I have read in 2019 and I can’t seem to get enough of the series. I am looking forward to reading more of them. I highly recommend this book and the series to those that like political and historical thrillers.<br /><br /><i>Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Steve Berry for a digital ARC of this novel via Net Galley and the opportunity to provide an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.</i><br />

<i>First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Steve Berry and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.</i><br /><br />I rushed to begin Steve Berry’s latest Cotton Malone thriller, sure to be filled with historical facts and a great deal of adventure. Berry did not disappoint, mixing some current geo-politics with Poland’s communist era, finding the perfect balance throughout. While Cotton Malone is in Belgium to acquire some rare books, he witnesses the theft of an ancient Christian relic. Unable to stop the thieves, he is detained by the local authorities and questioned. When Malone’s former boss—Stephanie Nelle—come upon him by happenstance, he is intrigued by what brings her to Europe. When Nelle introduces Malone to a member of the new US Administration, they butt heads from the start. Malone is told of a secret auction that is being held to release a cache of highly troubling information about the current Polish President. Entry for the auction comes in the form of one of the central Christian relics, one of which Malone saw lifted earlier. While Malone is not interested in the mission, or helping anyone within the new Administration, his mind changes when he encounters an old friend with whom he had strong ties. Malone agrees to help with the heist to help the Americans gain entry into this auction, but when he meets Janusz Czajkowski, Malone discovers the man is simply trying to protect his country’s sovereignty. At a time when Poland was the plaything of the Soviets, its autonomy was always threatened. Even when the Iron Curtain came down, Poland’s location in Europe made it a pawn in the American war to keep its enemies at bay. After the auction goes sideways, Malone must determine his next move, particularly when the US President tries to strong-arm his own agenda, clueless to international diplomacy. With the blackmail documents hidden somewhere in rural Poland, Malone soon learns about Czajkowski’s past and the Warsaw Protocol, a means of building up the Polish Resistance. Blood will be shed and the reader will learn much about the area, as Berry spins a tale that offers twists at every page turn. Recommended to those who have long enjoyed the Cotton Malone series, as well as the reader who enjoys some spin on some of the current political situation the world over. <br /><br />I always enjoy when a new Steve Berry novel hits my radar, as I can be assured of a wonderful story and a great deal of history, some of which end up being well-padded fiction. Turning things to Poland, Berry is able to explore this key country in the Soviet Empire and how its independence came at a great cost. Cotton Malone is back for his fifteenth adventure, pushing him to his limits. While Malone is always on his toes in this piece, the reader learns much about some of his past, receiving fragments of a time when he was in the Navy and some of the people who crossed his path. Fully out of the secret Magellan Billet, Malone does not have any protection of the current US Administration, though he makes it clear that he cannot stand POTUS or those who choose to be his sycophants. Others appear throughout and push the narrative forward, while complementing Malone’s presence at every turn. The reader is able to learn much about Poland through certain key characters, as is common with Berry’s novels. The story worked well for me, educating me about a great deal of things, particularly Poland’s emergence from behind the Iron Curtain, as well as how America has continued to use it as a foothold in the region. Berry mixes some of the long-standing history of the country with new threads that play nicely into the modern geo-political situation. With a book comprised primary with short chapters, the reader is able to push through this piece with little issue, finding themselves in the middle of a highly exciting story. I can only hope that Malone and those closest to him will appear again soon in another exciting adventure.<br /><br />Kudos, Mr. Berry, for another captivating piece. I always enjoy the mix of fact and fiction you present to the reader. <br /><br />Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at: <br /><a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/">http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/</a><br /><br />A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/248185-a-book-for-all-seasons">https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...</a>

I’m sorry to say I strongly recommend you skip this one. I have been a huge fan of Steve Berry and Cotton Malone from the beginning but this one is a miss. The worst part about it is that it’s boring. Finishing this book was a chore. If it was any other author there’s no way I would have bothered trying to finish it. As the author says in his end notes this is a book very much about Poland, and in my opinion not much else. Cotton is pulled into a plot involving dirt on the President of Poland which has the potential for international conflicts regarding the placement of missles from the USA in Poland which Russia of course does not want. Unfortunately there is very little in the way of action or a plot to hold the reader’s interest. Our POV shifts between Cotton, the Polish President, and the holders of information. I think we spend more time from the perspective of the Polish President than we do even Cotton. There is a lot thinly veiled politics here too unfortunately. Maybe the plot suffered because Berry had an agenda here against the actual president of the United States? Far too much of the plot centers on what an idiot the book President Fox is but he’s clearly a stand in for Trump. I wanted to read a good story and not one that decided to have our hero taking pot shots at the President instead of bothering to do anything for most of the novel. I have loved this series because first and foremost they were fun reads but I’ve always loved where Berry would take the action around the world and what fascinating historical knowledge he would bring in to them. This book lacks that. In fact we are to believe that the entrance to this auction for dirt is actually priceless relics of Christ? That are here valued as less than dirt on the Polish President? I don’t think so. Those relics would have been the star of the better Berry novels. Unfortunately our history is pretty thin here aside from Poland’s history and a salt mine. <br /><br />I was almost as disappointed by the 12th novel in this series, The Lost Order, but I did enjoy the last book in the series, The Malta Exchange, which did have more of what I love about this series so I hope Berry gets back to what made these books great. Unfortunately he will no longer be an author I pre-order given how inconsistent these novels have been. If you don’t want to bother with this book you don’t have to worry about missing anything. The conflicts with President Fox and Cotton and Stephanie would be easy to sum up in the next book which would be a must to set up wherever he decides to take it. Unusual for these books Berry does have a character show up at the end which is clearly a needed opener to hope the reader bothers to pick up the next book. As such a long time fan of the author and the series I hate to say it but this book is a miss. I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fast-paced international thriller set in Poland and is rich in Polish history (of which I knew almost nothing). The country has certainly been a hotbed of polical intrigue and upheaval, as well as being caught up in two World Wars. Steve Berry certainly had a handle on the material and had researched well for the background. The story revolves around Cotton Malone being caught up in a secret auction that was billed as the sale of stolen religious relics, the Arma Christi, from seven countries. Various countries were invited to this auction and were being led there under great secrecy and high security. I thought this was what the book was going to be about - but really the story is about something altogether different.<br /><br />A very complicated, but interesting book. I liked the character Cotton Malone - I believe this is the first book I've read in this series and I will likely read more.<br /><br />Thanks to Steve Berry and St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the 15th entry of Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series and his 19th thriller overall. I follow and collect this author's novels because they use a historical fact, legend, myth, or curiosity as a hook into the story. In the Malone series the protagonist is a retired agent for a Justice Department agency. He now resides in Copenhagen, Denmark and runs a used book store. History and books in a thriller format and I was hooked. What is even better is that Berry is history nerd himself so his books are all filled with incidental facts and trivia about a variety of subjects, locales, and geography in which the story meanders. So we have a thriller in which we can be thoroughly entertained but also learn something along the way. Entertainment but hardly mindless. So what was this one about and why only three stars?<br /><br />In this book a collection of religious relics associated with the crucifixion of Christ are being stolen one after the other. This collection, called the Arma Christi, are separate relics housed in churches across Europe. Malone happens by accident into one of these thefts while in Bruge, Belgium. From there the story advances into an attempt to blackmail the president of Poland regarding a U.S. desire to place missiles on Polish soil. I will say no more about the plot except that it was an entertaining and enjoyable book. Much of the story takes place in Poland and since my wife and I had the pleasure of visiting that country a few years ago it was most enjoyable to read about many of the places we visited used as scenes in this story. So why three stars?<br /><br />My disappointment is with how little use was made of history in this particular addition to the Malone series. The Arma Christi was simply used as a device to add a historical element to the story. The use of this device added nothing to the story and could have been eliminated without altering plot one bit. In Berry's other books the historical element is the key to the story and what the story is all about. This book was more of a entertaining political thriller and lacked Berry's unique historical touch and thus my disappointment. Nevertheless, the book is good, entertaining, enlightening, engaging, and just fun. Berry's books are among my guilty pleasures and I will continue to read and collect him but he is human so I guess he can't write a winner every time. I will warn you of one thing, however. The book ends with a tease as to the next Malone adventure. It's not a cliffhanger situation but just a tease and now we will need to wait another year to see what it's all about. Enjoy.

Once again Berry rags on religion. But wait, there's more! Now his hatred of President Trump corrupts his writing, making the most thinly veiled caricature ever a cartoonishly bad foil for the story. Rather than crafting an intelligent argument or an interesting antagonist, he recycles lines rejected as to over the top for Cobra Commander. At the same time he is busy praising his own imaginary president - an ex president who despite serving two terms does something only a pair of 19th century one-term failures ever did before - refuse to leave the national scene quietly and let their successor govern, choosing instead to be petty annoyances in the legislative branch. Berry also paints Cotton's boss as a heroic, no-nonsense woman doing what's right where no one else can or will. But actually reading the book shows her to be a woman who protected her job by seducing her boss and when that protection expired plots to bring down his successor who is immune to her 'charms'. Does anyone not the author see a problem? MeToo.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.<br /><br />It took me a while to get into this one, which is odd considering how long I've been reading Cotton's series and how much I've loved it overall, but I felt like the first 60% of the book or so was quite slow... but it paid off, because the slow burn led to a finale that left some of the characters a little salty. (Sorry, couldn't resist that one!)<br /><br />Cotton's adventures are always a pleasure to read, and while I missed Cassiopeia Vitt in this one, we did get a nice dash of Stephanie Nelle, so that was fun. I also like the way that Steve Berry has not let the characters remain in a stagnant time bubble. He's shifted the presidential administration along with the rules of play for our characters, but found ways to keep telling their stories. This one contains a huge shift again, and that final event as the story closed... dang, that made me want the next one right away!!!

There's a part to the national anthem of Poland that goes: "Poland has not yet perished, So long as we still live. What the foreign force has take from us, We shall with sabre retrieve." Those verses are a pretty good summation of Steve Berry's 15th book in the Cotton Malone series: The Warsaw Protocol. The book begins in Bruges, Belgium as Cotton witnesses the theft of one of the Arma Christi's or weapons of Christ. Other such relics have been disappearing of late, but these only prove to be a Macguffin as the real history of the book centers strictly on Poland, specifically the period from 1945-1990 under Soviet control.<br /><br />Malone quickly becomes involved in the plot to blackmail the current president of Poland (a fictional character based on Lech Wałęsa) and the tug of war over the fate of a ballistic missile system to be set on Polish soil between the United States, Russia, Iran, and a few others. Cotton and his ex-boss Stephanie Nelle are forced to deal with a difficult administration reminiscent of current one in the US. It moves at a fast pace and has you looking up information on all the places Malone visits and the historical aspects Berry chooses to incorporate in his novels. It's a pretty standard yet enjoyable Malone adventure.<br /><br />Rating: 3.5/5

Yuck. I have really enjoyed Cotton Malone's adventures in the past, but this will be my last one. Over-long and plodding, it is also spoiled by Berry's unhinged need to inflict his politics on us. <br /><br />The audiobook is also ruined by the glib author's notes forced upon the listener at the end of each chapter. In the past, you could choose between a clean version or an adulterated one; for some reason, they decided to do away with that choice and inflict the commentary on us.

What a pile of crap. We get it. He hates the Church, and he hates the President. I used to enjoy his writing, but it has become so predictably boring. A quarter through this, I gave up. Unlikely to read anything from this smug, pompous ass again.