Yeah, we’re going to say author Steve Berry is pretty good at writing thrillers. His latest book, The Patriot Threat, has bullets flying in the first sentence. Before the end of the first chapter, Cotton Malone, the ex-secret agent at the center of Berry’s series, watches as four men are murdered, fights with an anonymous assassin, saves the life of an innocent bystander, sets a building on fire, hangs from the bottom of a helicopter as it races over Venice, downs said helicopter and falls through the night sky, landing on an island cemetery. Oh, and somewhere in there, $20 million goes up in flames.
It’s easy to see why Berry, in town for a discussion and signing session, has sold 14 million books. The New York Times bestselling author mixes nonstop action (above) and historical facts (Franklin Roosevelt, Andrew Mellon and the National Gallery of Art all figure into the plot of Patriot Threat) with provocative speculation (what if income tax were illegal?).
As successful as Berry, a former trial lawyer, is now, he’s always quick to point out that his first five manuscripts earned 85 rejection slips over 12 years before he had his first novel published (The Amber Room in 2003). That might be why Berry spends much of his time teaching workshops for other writers.
6:30 p.m. Murder by the Book, 2342 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-524-8597 or visit murderbooks.com. Free.
Mon., April 6, 6:30 p.m., 2015
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2015.