Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Book Summary and Reviews of The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry

The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry

The Charlemagne Pursuit

Cotton Malone Series #4

by Steve Berry

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • Published:
  • Dec 2008, 528 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

As a child, former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone was told his father died in a submarine disaster in the North Atlantic, but now he wants the full story and asks his ex-boss, Stephanie Nelle, to secure the military files. What he learns stuns him: His father’s sub was a secret nuclear vessel lost on a highly classified mission beneath the ice shelves of Antarctica.

But Malone isn’t the only one after the truth.

Twin sisters Dorothea Lindauer and Christl Falk are fighting for the fortune their mother has promised to whichever of them discovers what really became of their father – who died on the same submarine that Malone's father captained.

The sisters know something Malone doesn’t: Inspired by strange clues discovered in Charlemagne’s tomb, the Nazis explored Antarctica before the Americans, as long ago as 1938. Now Malone discovers that cryptic journals penned in "the language of heaven," inscrutable conundrums posed by an ancient historian, and the ill-fated voyage of his father are all tied to a revelation of immense consequence for humankind.

In an effort to ensure that this explosive information never rises to the surface, Langford Ramsey, an ambitious navy admiral, has begun a brutal game of treachery, blackmail, and assassination. As Malone embarks on a dangerous quest with the sisters–one that leads them from an ancient German cathedral to a snowy French citadel to the unforgiving ice of Antarctica – he will finally confront the shocking truth of his father’s death and the distinct possibility of his own.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Those who relish suspense in the Da Vinci Code vein will snap this one up, the best yet in the series." - Publishers Weekly.

"Starred Review. Mixed in with the complicated action, Berry finds the time to explore the characters as well, making this his most personal and best book to date." - Library Journal.

This information about The Charlemagne Pursuit was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Irene Dean Chrest

The Charlemagne Pursuit
I am a French teacher therefore Charlemagne caught my attention. Wish HE had been focused on more often in the book. It had a very interesting plot and scenery than other books. But it jumped around more than I liked. There were too many characters in the novel, so therefore, it was difficult to keep the jest of what was going on. It wasn't Berry's best novel.

lenkomen

Audible book not enjoyable
Scott Brick's narration is usually good. but in the Steve Berry audibles he seems compelled to regularly drop his voice in some quasi-reverntial tone to dramatize certain descriptions. The result is an uneven listening experience; with the listener missing various words because of the volume irregularities; and overdramatized events. Eventually you get bored. With 10 hours to go, I am not going to listen to the rest of the book

Judith

The Charlemagne Pursuit
A good story, fast moving, with no purpose. I found the only positive aspect of this novel was that it helped me pass the time. I gained nothing from the effort

Beverley

Charlemagne Pursuit
I thought the book would be good, as I love history. But too many characters. They all blended into each other; I had to keep going over pagers to make sure who was who. Also the book repeats itself in some places, and the reader goes back to Charlemagne the person and Charlemagne the sub. I am a normal person who loves to read good books, to be taken to another realm of this world, away from everyday life. This book was too complicated in some parts. A good book should have twist and turns, but not too many that the characters blend into each other. Shame. This Basically as a good book for a long weekend, with nothing to do but read.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Steve Berry Author Biography

Photo: Kelly Campbell

Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of the Cotton Malone novels (The Bishop's Pawn, The Malta Exchange), among other books, and several works of short fiction. He has 25 million books in print, translated into 40 languages. With his wife, Elizabeth, he is the founder of History Matters, which is dedicated to historical preservation. He serves as an emeritus member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board and was a founding member of International Thriller Writers, formerly serving as its co-president.

Author Interview
Link to Steve Berry's Website

Other books by Steve Berry at BookBrowse
  • The Third Secret jacket

9 more...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more thrillers...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.