What would the fallout be if someone could prove that the modern state of Israel is in the wrong place that it occupies a territory far distant from the one divinely promised the Jews and specified in the original version of the Old Testament? What if the historical Israel had actually been located in what is now Saudi Arabia? Would the revelation of these facts inevitably bring the always bubbling Mideast to a full boil? It is around these potentially apocalyptic prospects that Steve Berry weaves The Alexandria Link. His premise is that the contents of the fabled Library of Alexandria including the Old Testament still exist at a secret site, the whereabouts of which have been made known only to a succession of wise and deserving scholars. So now the race is on to find the library, with one faction intent on exposing Israel’s tenuous historical hold on the land.
To play out this adventure, Berry brings back characters he introduced in The Templar Legacy. Chief among these are Cotton Malone, the retired government spook; his former boss, Stephanie Nelle; and the beautiful but deadly Cassiopeia Vitt, who functions here as Nelle’s guardian angel. There are so many doublecrosses it practically takes a scorecard to keep track of them. Breathlessly paced, The Alexandria Link is a wonderful dramatic ride.
