From the Publisher
A family's secret, a ruthless fanatic, and a covert arm of
the American government-all are linked by a single puzzling
possibility:
What if everything we know about the discovery of
America was a lie? What if that lie was designed to hide the secret
of why Columbus sailed in 1492? And what if that 500-year-old
secret could violently reshape the modern political
world?
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Tom Sagan has
written hard-hitting articles from hot spots around the world. But
when one of his stories from the Middle East is exposed as a fraud,
his professional reputation crashes and burns. Now he lives in
virtual exile-haunted by bad decisions and a shocking truth he can
never prove: that his downfall was a deliberate act of
sabotage by an unknown enemy. But before Sagan can end his torment
with the squeeze of a trigger, fate intervenes in the form of an
enigmatic stranger. This stranger forces Sagan to act-and his
actions attract the attention of the Magellan Billet, a top-secret
corps of the United States Justice Department that deals with
America's most sensitive investigations. Sagan suddenly finds
himself caught in an international incident, the repercussions of
which will shudder not only Washington, D.C., but also Jerusalem.
Coaxed into a deadly cat-and-mouse game, unsure who's friend and
who's foe, Sagan is forced to Vienna, Prague, then finally into the
Blue Mountains of Jamaica-where his survival hinges on his
rewriting everything we know about Christopher Columbus.
About the Author
Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1
internationally bestselling author of The King's Deception, The
Columbus Affair, The Jefferson Key, The Emperor's Tomb, The Paris
Vendetta, The Charlemagne Pursuit, The Venetian Betrayal, The
Alexandria Link, The Templar Legacy, The Third Secret, The Romanov
Prophecy, and The Amber Room. His books have been
translated into 40 languages with more than 15,000,000 printed
copies in 51 countries.
History lies at the heart of every Steve Berry novel. It's this
passion, one he shares with his wife, Elizabeth, that led them to
create History Matters, a foundation dedicated to historic
preservation. Since 2009 Steve and Elizabeth have traveled across
the country to save endangered historic treasures, raising money
via lectures, receptions, galas, luncheons, dinners, and their
popular writers' workshops. To date, nearly 2,000 students have
attended those workshops. In 2012 their work was recognized by the
American Library Association, which named Steve the first spokesman
for National Preservation Week. He was also appointed by the
Smithsonian Board of Regents to serve on the Smithsonian Libraries
Advisory Board to help promote and support the libraries in their
mission to provide information in all forms to scientists,
curators, scholars, students and the public at large. He was named
Georgia Author of the Year (2005) and has received the Royden B.
Davis Distinguished Author Award and the 2013 Writers for Writers
Award bestowed by Poets & Writers.
Steve Berry was born and raised in Georgia, graduating from the
Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University. He was a trial
lawyer for 30 years and held elective office for 14 of those years.
He is a founding member of International Thriller Writers-a group
of more than 2,000 thriller writers from around the world-and
served three years as its co-president.
For more information, visit www.steveberry.org.
About the Book
Many questions about Christopher Columbus exist. But now there's an exciting new novel that challenges the notions about the discovery of America in a story of mysterious strangers, sabotage, and a dangerous international game.
