THE LINCOLN MYTH
(Cotton Malone #9)
By Steve Berry
The greatest enemy of truth is myth.
New York Times
bestselling author Steve Berry
returns with his latest thriller, a Cotton Malone adventure involving a
flaw in the United States Constitution, a mystery about Abraham
Lincoln, and a political issue that’s as explosive as it is timely—not
only in Malone’s world, but in ours.
SEPTEMBER 1861: All is not as it seems. With these cryptic words, a shocking secret passed down from president to president comes to rest in the hands of Abraham Lincoln. As the first bloody clashes of the Civil War unfold, Lincoln alone must decide how best to use this volatile knowledge: save thousands of American lives, or keep the young nation from being torn apart forever?
THE PRESENT: In Utah, the fabled remains of Mormon pioneers whose nineteenth-century expedition across the desert met with a murderous end have been uncovered. In Washington, D.C., the official investigation of an international entrepreneur, who is also an elder in the Mormon Church, has sparked a political battle between the White House and a powerful United States senator. In Denmark, a Justice Department agent, missing in action, has fallen into the hands of a dangerous zealot—a man driven by divine visions to make a prophet’s words reality. In a matter of a few short hours, Cotton Malone has gone from quietly selling books at his shop in Denmark to dodging bullets in a high-speed boat chase.
All it takes is a phone call from his former boss in Washington, and suddenly the ex-agent is racing to rescue an informant carrying critical intelligence. It’s just the kind of perilous business that Malone has been trying to leave behind, ever since he retired from the Justice Department. But once he draws enemy blood, Malone is plunged into a deadly conflict—a constitutional war secretly set in motion more than two hundred years ago by America’s Founding Fathers.
From the streets of Copenhagen, to the catacombs of Salzburg, to the rugged mountains of Utah, the grim specter of the Civil War looms as a dangerous conspiracy gathers power. Malone risks life, liberty, and his greatest love in a race for the truth about Abraham Lincoln—while the fate of the United States of America hangs in the balance.
STEVE BERRY is
The New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling
author of eight Cotton Malone adventures, four stand-alone thrillers,
and four short-story originals. His books have been translated into 40 languages with more than 15 million printed
copies in 51 countries.
THE LINCOLN MYTH
By Steve Berry
Random House; May 20, 2014
$27; 430 pages
**********
Excerpt from
by Steve Berry
“I
have not left anyone in doubt. My task is to save the Union. I would save it
the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can
be restored, the nearer the Union will be the Union as it was. If I could save
the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it. If I could save it by
freeing all slaves, I would do it. If I could save it by freeing some and
leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the
colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union. What I
forbear, I forbear because I don’t believe it would help to save the Union. I
shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I
shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause.”
“Then
you are not my president, sir. Nor would you be the president of those who
voted for you.”
“But
I am president. So take this message back to the general. He was sent
west to move the army to Memphis and keep advancing eastward. Those are still
his orders. He shall either obey them or be removed from his post.”
“I
must warn you, sir, that it could be hard if you continue to oppose the
general. He could set up for himself.”
The
federal treasury was empty. The War Department a mess. No Union army anywhere
was prepared to advance. And now this woman, and her insolent husband, were
threatening revolt? He should have them both arrested. Unfortunately, however,
Fremont’s unilateral emancipation had become popular with abolitionists and
liberal Republicans who wanted slavery ended now. A bold strike at their
champion could be political suicide.
He
said, “This meeting is over.”
She
threw him a glare, one that said she was unaccustomed to being dismissed. But
he ignored her sneer and stepped across the room, opening the door for her to
leave. Hay, his personal secretary, was on duty outside, as was one of the
stewards. Mrs. Fremont passed Hay without saying a word, and the steward led
her away. He waited until he heard the front door open, then close, before signal-ing
for Hay to join him in the parlor.
“That
is an impertinent soul,” he said. “We never even sat. She gave me no chance to
offer her a seat. She taxed me so violently with so many things that I had to
exercise all the awkward tact I have to avoid quarreling with her.”
“Her
husband is no better. His command is a failure.”
He
nodded. “Fremont’s mistake is that he isolates himself. He does not know what
is going on in the matter he is dealing with.”
“And
he refuses to listen.”
“She
actually threatened that he might set up his own government.”
Excerpted
from THE LINCOLN MYTH by Steve Berry. Copyright © 2014 Steve Berry.
Excerpted by permission of Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted
without permission in writing from the publisher.
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