This review is actually 3.5 stars - just couldn't do that on my iPad. Once again, Cotton Malone is on the trail of a mysterious object with strong historical ties and a range of murderous groups/individuals all with egos as big as their vested interests. This object dates back to Napoleon and involves links with both Corsica and the Merovigian dynasty. There is a book, familial ties, a codex, a Prophecy and, of course, thwarted intentions. Cotton (I love that someone so tough is named after something so soft and yielding) is called upon by his friend, Heinrich, to help him close the brutal door of revenge that was opened when his son was killed a couple of years earlier. With mixed feelings, he complies only to find himself tangled in a web of conspiracies that demands he makes a choice between friendship and professional loyalties- a choice that tears Malone apart and sets in train a series of unstoppable events where no-one and nothing is as it seems. At the centre of all this is the sinister Paris Club, but even they don't understand what processes they've set in motion or powers they've unleashed with their greed.

Occasionally, harkening back to Napoleonic times, Berry juggles a number of plotlines (including one for Rommel's gold which, frankly, just clouds the issues at stake), and includes interesting characters. Moving between Egypt, the Mediterranean, Paris and London, Berry locates the reader with lovingly described landmarks, allowing us to soak up both culture and atmosphere. The pace cracks along but does sometimes get confusing.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this addition to the Malone series and will look forward to the next one. I also real enjoy how Berry explains the way he tweaks fact and fiction in his writer's notes at the back and how one small line in a history sets off an imaginative train of events that lead to this novel.