The Last Kingdom

Description

From celebrated New York Times bestselling author, Steve Berry, comes the latest Cotton Malone adventure, in which the discovery of a lost historical document challenges the global might of the United States. King Ludwig II of Bavaria was an enigmatic figure who was deposed in 1886, mysteriously drowning three days later. Eccentric to the point of madness, history tells us that in the years before he died Ludwig engaged in a worldwide search for a new kingdom, one separate, apart, and in lieu of Bavaria. A place he could retreat into and rule as he wished. But a question remains: did he succeed? Enter Cotton Malone. After many months, Malone's protege, Luke Daniels, has managed to infiltrate a renegade group intent on winning Bavarian independence from Germany. Daniels has also managed to gain the trust of the prince of Bavaria, a frustrated second son intent on eliminating his brother, the duke, and restoring the Wittelsbach monarchy, only now with him as king. Everything hinges on a 19th century deed which proves that Ludwig's long-rumored search bore fruit - legal title to lands that Germany, China, and the United States all now want, only for vastly different reasons. In a race across Bavaria for clues hidden in Ludwig's three fairytale castles - Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee - Malone and Daniels battle an ever-growing list of deadly adversaries, all intent on finding the last kingdom.

Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of the Cotton Malone series. His books have been translated into 40 languages with 17,000,000 copies in 51 countries. Steve 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 2,600 thriller writers from around the world - and served for three years as its co-president. For more information, visit www.steveberry.org.

PRAISE FOR THE KAISER'S WEB: [Berry's] most ambitious and relevant thriller to date. A no-holds-barred, high-stakes romp with echoes of class spy novelists like John le Carre, Len Deighton, and Alistair MacLean . . . This is a dream read for the unabashed thriller aficionado, a story stitched along classic lines that never disappoints in laying out a riveting and relentless tapestry * Providence Journal * Berry skillfully lays out yet another tantalizing historical what-if * Publishers Weekly * Berry keeps finding enticing alternate-history mysteries for Malone to solve . . . Keep 'em coming * Booklist * Ominously up-to-date * Kirkus Reviews *