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Book Review: The Lost Order by Steve Berry

It’s easy to overlook the books that are right in front of you, the ones that you see every day no matter where you are. In the library, I’m surrounded by books and there is only so much time to read. But there are some books you see everywhere.
Lost Order

It’s easy to overlook the books that are right in front of you, the ones that you see every day no matter where you are. In the library, I’m surrounded by books and there is only so much time to read. But there are some books you see everywhere. They are at the grocery store, the drug store, Walmart, everywhere. I decided that I should try, and picked up Steve Berry’s The Lost Order.

Part of an ongoing series about Justice Department agent Cotton Malone (they always have such interesting names) and his adventures in uncovering secret plots and conspiracies surrounding threats from throughout history, usually American. 

Though 12th in the series, there isn’t much required background to understand what’s going on. The story is self-contained: A historical clandestine organization known as the Knights of the Golden Circle that had long since been thought destroyed has re-emerged with deadly intent: to take over the United States and steal power from the president. Cotton Malone catches on to the plot, and with the help of the former president, they work to prevent the secret organization from exacting their plan.

I can’t pretend to have been surprised by anything in this book: it was designed as a page turner in the tradition of Dan Brown and The DaVinci Code so the action is all fairly formulaic.

The characters are all perfect examples of superagents, insane villains or super ambitious schemers. There are lots of historical details, descriptions of art and artifacts in various museums (in this case the Smithsonian Institute), all with clever explanations on how they fit in with the story. The plots are all made up, of course, but the objects are real. The Knights were a real organization, and mysterious map tiles described in the novel do exist.

The Lost Order isn’t amazing, but I’m not sure it was ever meant to be a masterpiece. These are your vacation reads, the kind you read when you don’t really want to think too hard.

I enjoyed it well enough to start looking for more in the series and more by similar authors. If you are looking to try and break your reading habits don’t overlook these paperbacks.

Steven McCreedy is a library technician at the Cambie Branch of the Richmond Public Library