Stale Book Review #9 - The Venetian Betrayal

The Venetian Betrayal by Steve Berry

Cost: $1.95US

Page Count: 540

Hooray!  Another Steve Berry installment.  After reading his Amber Room a bit ago, I thought I would just go ahead and write the guy off forever.  However, you will be pleased to note that Mr. Berry has improved.  The Venetian Betrayal was decent.  That's a step up from that frozen dog turd, The Amber Room.  

After reading another from Steve Berry, I feel that he really needs to work on creating sympathetic characters.  This seems to be a major flaw in his books.  The storyline of The Venetian Betrayal, while far-fetched, kept me going through the book...not the characters.  So, before I dig into his cast of characters, let's tackle the plot.  Basically, this is another typical adventure book.  Deep in the mountains of central Asia, there is apparently a pool of microbes that can cure any disease, including AIDS.  Of course, the mountains are controlled by a despotic ruler and crazy bitch...  Anyway, the despot wants to rule the world or something and has a fascination with Alexander the Great.  She is hoping to locate his tomb, which has been lost for centuries. 

Then, Americans get involved, as they are wont to do.  So, there is a race to find the elephant medallions (which is a plotline that was lost on me...why do they need the fucking coins?) and to eventually find the pools of life.  I know, it seems far fetched and I am sure that I am not doing the plot justice but it kept me moving along through the book.

Cotton Malone, as a protagonist, is a piece of shit.  He's haughty, unlikeable, and arrogant.  Fuck that guy.  He sucks.  The rest of the characters...well, they just aren't relatable.  The one character I could follow and feel for was...well, no one.  Maybe I'm just being too picky.  But, the characters in The Venetian Betrayal really let me down.  

The book was ok.  It was better than some of his others, for sure.  So, I would chalk this one up as a solid B.  The story was pretty cool although it dragged to the ending ever soooooo sloooowwwly.  But, that's ok, I suppose.  

I promise, no more Steve Berry for a while.