Part of Cotton Malone, book 8
First published 2013
Cotton Malone arrives in London with his fifteen-year-old son Gary, escorting a teenage fugitive back to England as a favor to his former Justice Department boss. Gunmen greet them at arrival. Both Gary and the fugitive vanish. Malone discovers he has walked into Operation King's Deception, a CIA plot designed to uncover Tudor secrets that could destabilize Britain. The operation centers on a buried mystery from Elizabeth I's forty-five-year reign that questions her legitimacy as monarch. CIA operative Blake Antrim runs the scheme, seeking leverage over Britain's refusal to block the humanitarian release of the Libyan terrorist who bombed Pan Am Flight 103. Antrim hunts for evidence that could give Ireland legal grounds to demand English withdrawal from Northern Ireland. But Antrim also pursues personal revenge, using Gary as his pawn. Assassins and spies from a secret society close in as Malone navigates betrayals on multiple sides. He must uncover the truth about Elizabeth I while playing enemies against each other to save his son and prevent international catastrophe.
Genres: historical-fiction, adventure, mystery, thriller, action, espionage
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, father-son-relationship, government-conspiracy
Setting: Britain, England, Ireland, Libya, London, Northern Ireland
Period: Elizabeth I's Reign, Modern Day
409 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books