‘Jefferson Key’ one of Steve Berry’s best to date

I’m a big history buff, so when I hear a new Steve Berry novel is coming out, I get excited.

Berry is a master at historical thrillers, arguably the most prolific one out there right now (yes, even better than Dan Brown). He excels at wrapping historical events around a fictional suspense story, giving it a real-life feel that is also educational.

“The Jefferson Key” is one of his best yet and surprisingly, most of it takes place in the United States. Berry’s previous novels involved vast conspiracies, secret items and chases around the globe ("The Emperor's Tomb," "The Templar Legacy"). The Florida author writes an America-centric story this time, and it involves some dark secrets from our country’s past.

“The Jefferson Key” starts out in a slam-bang fashion, the most exciting opening to a novel Berry has ever written. Best-selling author David Baldacci calls it “one of the most spellbinding and ingenious
openings in all of thrillerdom.” That’s not an exaggeration.

The story begins in the prologue, with President Andrew Jackson surviving an assassination attempt in 1835. The would-be assassin’s gun fails to fire within close range of the president.

Flash forward to the present. Former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone risks his life to thwart an unconventional assassination attempt against President Danny Daniels in the heart of Manhattan. The action segment has a Bondian feel to it, with Malone helping to save the president’s life while being chased by the apparent bad guys. But Malone, who operates a bookstore in Copenhagen, Denmark, quickly discovers that things aren’t as they seem.

He and co-worker/lover Cassiopeia Vitt stumble upon a mystery that involves the White House, the government, the U.S. Constitution and a secret society called the Commonwealth, who had a hand in assassinating all four U.S. presidents (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy).

The Commonwealth was formed by a select group of privateers that helped George Washington in the American Revolution. Since then, the Commonwealth has only grown in stature and power and has played a major role in American politics.

Thanks to a clause in the U.S. Constitution (part of Article 1, Section 8 reads “The Congress shall have the power to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal …”), the Commonwealth has legal immunity and protection from the government. Washington granted the group a letter of marque during the revolution, officially giving it permission to attack the government’s enemies. The wealthy pirate group has since helped the U.S. in all wars. The aforementioned presidents tried to destroy the group but with fatal results.

Malone and Vitt uncover a secret about Jackson, which leads them to the Jefferson cipher, a mysterious object possessed by the third president that still exists. The cipher should reveal the location of a centuries-old document, forged by the Founding Fathers, that could make the Commonwealth unstoppable, thanks to the clause in the Constitution.

If it sounds complicated, it is. Berry never shies away from tackling complex historical concepts that border on the unbelievable. But that is what makes his novels so much fun to read.

With all the thrills and violence, the premise behind “The Jefferson Key” is a little weak. Would a few old documents really help the Commonwealth, when they have so much power and are already protected by the Constitution? All the trouble that everyone endures in this mystery seems, at times, way blown out of proportion.

Nonetheless, Malone and Vitt’s adventure along the East Coast, including Canada, is plenty wild, with several surprises. And don’t forget about those greedy pirates.

“Who doesn’t love pirates?” Malone says to Vitt. “They declared war against the world. For a century, they attacked and looted at will, then they vanished. … It’s doubtful America would be here except for
privateers.”