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The Patriot Threat: A Novel
The Patriot Threat: A Novel
The Patriot Threat: A Novel
Audiobook13 hours

The Patriot Threat: A Novel

Written by Steve Berry

Narrated by Scott Brick

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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About this audiobook

In an innovative new approach, Macmillan Audio and Steve Berry have produced an expanded, annotated Writer's Cut audiobook edition of The Patriot Threat.

Critically-acclaimed, award-winning narrator Scott Brick returns as the voice of dauntless protagonist Cotton Malone and New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry has written and recorded behind-the-scenes commentary filled with insights into the fascinating and little-known historical facts that fuel his novel.

The 16th Amendment to the Constitution legalized federal income tax, but what if there were problems with the 1913 ratification of that amendment? Secrets that call into question decades of tax collecting. There is a surprising truth to this possibility-a truth wholly entertained by Steve Berry, a top-ten New York Times bestselling writer, in his new thriller, The Patriot Threat.

His protagonist, Cotton Malone, once a member of an elite intelligence division within the Justice Department known as the Magellan Billet, is now retired. But when his former boss, Stephanie Nelle, asks him to track a rogue North Korean who may have acquired some top secret Treasury Department files-the kind that could force the United States to its knees-Malone is vaulted into a harrowing twenty-four-hour chase that begins on the water in Venice and ends in the remote highlands of Croatia.

With appearances by Franklin Roosevelt, Andrew Mellon, and a curious painting that still hangs in the National Gallery of Art, Steve Berry's trademark mix of history and suspense is 90% fact and 10% exciting speculation, a provocative thriller that poses a dangerous question: What if the Federal income tax is illegal?

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 31, 2015
ISBN9781427258069
The Patriot Threat: A Novel
Author

Steve Berry

Steve and Phil were founder members of the TV Cream nostalgia website and have written several books on popular culture.

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Rating: 4.466666666666667 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I wasn’t sure how I would like the authors comments at the end of the chapters, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Fantastic read! I cannot wait to listen to more of his books.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Patriot Threat by Steve Barry is the tenth in his Cotton Malone series and can easily be read as a stand-alone book. I have read and reviewed two other Cotton Malone books and this one is my favorite. In The Patriot Threat, Barry looks at the 16th Amendment to the Constitution and begs the question of what if Federal Income Tax is actually illegal? Cotton Malone is now retired from the intelligence division of the Justice Department, the Magellan Billet, living in Denmark, and the owner of a bookshop, that is until he receives a call from his former boss, Stephanie Nelle. Cotton finds himself once again on the run, this time tracking a rogue North Korean who possibly acquired top-secret Treasury Department files. Throughout the book it is clear that Barry has done extensive research prior to writing the book and while The Patriot Threat is indeed a fast-paced thriller, it can, at times, seem more like an economics class, but with the subject matter chosen for this book, that is to be expected. I enjoy a thriller which contains a lot of red herrings and that is precisely what readers will find in Barry’s lasted Cotton Malone book. I would recommend The Patriot Threat to those who enjoy international thrillers.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In the audiobook version, Berry chimes in on occasion to add anecdotes and factoids while the story is read by a professional reader. This really added to the book -- I've always enjoyed Berry's appendices when he separates fact from fiction -- he still does this, but this is more. I hope he continues this in future recordings.This is Cotton Malone's 10th book. The government agent turned bookseller can't seem to stay retired. After losing his girlfriend, Cassiopeia, because he killed her former lover, a psycho Mormon in the last book, Malone is on his own. Kim Yong Jin is the shamed exile of the notorious North Korean Kim family. Plotting to overthrow his half-brother's regime, the disinherited Kim rescues his daughter from a labor camp, training her to be a killer. Kim has information that he believes will destabilize western countries and make way for his glorious return as leader of a new Korean world power. Malone is seeking this information too so it can be buried. An international chase ensues.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I can not even begin to imagine the amount of research that Steve Berry must do before even begins to write. History fans will love his books as he intertwines actual historical events and characters with his fictional plot... and he does so in a very convincing manner. In this one he attacks the dreaded income tax that was enacted due to the 16th Amendment. He brings in the North Koreans and the Chinese just to make life more difficult for Cotton Malone and Stephanie. The 3.5 stars came about not because the book wasn't interesting but because there was just too much information to absorb. Still a worthwhile read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Kim Yong Jin is determined to achieve the one thing he has been denied, the leadership of his homeland. Disinherited by his father, he relocated to Macao in disgrace and his half-brother assumed the place Kim believed to be rightfully his. When he comes into possession of some top secret files, Kim sees a way to parlay that information into finally achieving his true heritage as the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.Cotton Malone, retired from Magellan Billet, the elite intelligence organization within the Justice Department, has taken on the retrieval of these files as a temporary assignment; readers will first find him observing the transfer of twenty million American dollars to North Korean agents. This clandestine payment is but the tip of an iceberg in the unfolding drama; ensuing events will involve Malone in a cat-and-mouse chase from Venice to Croatia with other players seeking to obtain the secret files for themselves. As the devious doings unfold, Malone and his associates are thrown into a mystery harking back to the nation's Founding Fathers . . . and the revelation of its secrets could well spell the destruction of the United States.This page-turner is an inventive mix of fact and fiction with more than enough plot twists and suspense to keep readers enthralled. The interweaving of historical fact with the ingenious fictional plot is masterful and readers will find themselves engaged in the narrative from the very first page. “The Patriot Threat” is the tenth outing for Cotton Malone, but readers coming to the series for the first time will have no problem sorting out the who’s who and what’s what from previous stories as this enthralling thriller spins out it tantalizing tale.Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is my favorite so far in his Cotton Malone series... I love the author’s “interruptions” to explain why he wrote as he did❤️a great read
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Patriot Threat, Steve Berry, author; Scott Brick, narratorThere are two major threats to national security revealed in this book. One concerns the legality of the collection of income tax, regarding the way the 16th Amendment was passed, and the other concerns an unpaid debt owed to Haym Solomon, the man who funded the Revolutionary War. This was a debt that George Mason, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, refused to acknowledge, and Andrew Mellon, an American financier, refused to pay. Ultimately, were their actions and the subsequent actions of future government officials justified in order to protect America?When the book begins, it is New Year’s Eve in 1936. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Andrew Mellon are having a meeting. There was no love lost between FDR and Andrew Mellon. FDR was, of course, the President of the United States, and Andrew Mellon had been, among other things, the Secretary of the Treasury and the man who bequeathed the National Gallery of Art, in Washington DC, to America. FDR had brought both criminal and civil charges against Andrew Mellon for tax evasion. Mellon, who was angry and dying, presented a challenge to FDR. He presented him with a dollar bill and pointed out various important images on its newly designed face, among them being a six-sided star and an anagram. He then gave him a piece of paper which would provide the clues to a scenario that he said would bring both FDR and his tyrannical rule to an end. FDR, in defiance, crumbled the paper without reading it and threw it across the room. Mellon had presented the ultimate game of revenge to FDR, as he intended to frighten him into trying to figure out the puzzle. He wanted the last word. This theme of revenge runs throughout the novel.Now fast forward to the present day and meet the legitimate son of the leader of North Korea. Kim Yong-Jin, who had been disowned years ago for clandestinely attempting to take his children to see Tokyo Disneyland, was in exile in Macao. His half-brother became Dear Leader instead of him, when his father died. He was resentful and had been harboring thoughts and plans for vengeance for years, believing he was the rightful ruler North Korea.Meanwhile, an American, Anan Wayne Howell, had refused to pay his income taxes, declaring that the collection of the tax was illegal since the 16th Amendment had not been properly ratified. He took flight and was found guilty in absentia. Howell, as a fugitive, had written a book called, “The Patriot Threat”, which contained accusations about the legitimacy of the 16th amendment and the repayment of a loan to Haym Solomon which seem too close to reality. When Paul Larks, a former Treasury official discovers documents which prove that this may be true and also discovers that the debt to Haym Solomon was never paid because the documents had been concealed, he makes arrangements to meet with Howell. Larks wants to pass on the papers he has discovered which back up Howell’s theories and which will prove his innocence.When Kim Yong-Jin, using a false identity, becomes involved in this plan, he recognizes that, with those documents, he might be able to bring down both the United States and China’s economy, ultimately restoring himself to what he believes is his rightful leadership position in Korea. He enlists Hana, his illegitimate daughter’s help. She had spent the first 14 years of her life in a brutally hard labor camp in North Korea, with her mother, until he rescued her, leaving her mother there to die. If he gets these documents and exposes their existence, America would owe billions to Solomon and would also have to return all illegally paid back income taxes; China would lose its arrangement with Dear Leader concerning the mining of precious metals which would drastically downgrade their economy, as well. Korea, a closed society, and Kim Yong-Jin, would fare far better.The tension is constant as the scenes change location as they reach a fever pitch, from Cotton Malone’s investigation of the European side of it, to Stephanie Nelle, the head of The Magellan Billet, under the auspices of the Justice Department, and her investigation in Washington DC, to Kim Yong-Jin’s diabolical schemes hatched in Macao, and to Larks and Howell’s effort to reveal the damaging information to the world. China and North Korean agents also get involved in the search for the documents while trying to protect and further their own interests. The Justice Department was after the fugitive, Howell, and the Treasury Department was after the documents they believed would bring down America. Somewhere among the documents there was an original crumbled piece of paper with a code on it, that was left by Andrew Mellon, for FDR to decipher. It was presented by Mellon as a test and veiled threat to FDR and his power. It held the key to the possible downfall of America, China, and ultimately, other world powers.All of the parties were sometimes at odds with each other creating conflict, violence and danger. The plot was very complicated, and often confusing, with so many themes twisting back and forth throughout the narrative. However, all parties where realistically portrayed with the duplicity of North Korea and the craftiness of the Chinese in evidence, to say nothing of the corruption of our own American government. At the end of the book, the reader may wonder about the ethical behavior and judgment of all the characters.Scott Brick is one of my favorite narrators. He knows how to hold the listener’s interest using the proper tone and tension in his voice. As a special treat, Steve Berry used an innovative approach in this Writer’s Cut audiobook edition. He interjected throughout, explaining the historic significance and background of events, revealing what was fact and what was fiction, as it took place. It was very helpful and enhanced the understanding of the novel.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Like all Berry books, this one puts the thinnest of fictional spins on a contemporary issue and makes a fascinating thriller out of it. Also as always, Berry helpfully puts a notes section at the end, documenting what is real and what few things he added or speculated.
    Scariest of all, the premise - What if Income Tax isn't constitutional - is all to plausibly presented.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Not one of my favorite installments. Very formulaic and anyone who has read the previous books gets the plot twist very early on. I wasn't interested in this story past the 1/3 point. Not one for me but hopefully others enjoy it.*All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Thank you to the Goodreads First Reads program for a copy of Steve Berry’s latest thriller, “The Patriot Threat”. I admit to being a huge fan of Berry’s early work, but I have passed on the last couple installments due to issues that are almost entirely absent in this latest book. Berry weaves a fascinating, detailed and well-written tale, occasionally utilizing original source materials, to connect the present day United States with its Revolutionary and Gilded Age past. Secret documents stolen by former Treasury Secretary, Andrew Mellon, and presented in code to his nemesis, President Franklin Roosevelt, threaten to surface and destroy the modern American economy. Berry calls on reliable Cotton Malone, Stephanie Nelle, and an assorted cast of characters to thwart attempts by a North Korean exile and the Chinese government to reach the secret first.I was particularly drawn to the stories of the Haym Solomon debt and potential problems with the ratification of the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I found myself putting the book down repeatedly to Google these topics as they were developed, and was shocked to learn how real these issues were, or maybe still are!Berry also excels when discussing the oppressive nature of North Korea, specifically the infamous prison camps designed to eliminate enemies and opposition for multiple generations. Tragic beyond words.The greatest difficulty for many authors is the ability to provide a satisfactory ending to a book. I can enjoy the first ninety percent of a Steve Berry book, totally enveloped by his narrative, and then want to throw the book across the room after reading the last few chapters. In this case, the never-ending fight/chase scenes at the conclusion were mercifully brief. I believe people are drawn to these books because of the connection to real historical events and the often convincing alternate realities presented by Berry. No one wants to read forty pages of silly chase scenes contrived to provide us a “thrilling” finale. STICK TO THE STORY!!!All that said, I could not put this book down and absolutely loved it. This is the best Steve Berry book in a while, and I highly recommend it to other readers. Five stars in its genre.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Another novel with Cotton Malone. I like his character but there was a bit too much politics involved as with Berry's last few books. The line between right and wrong in this book is a bit shady which I don't like that much, but all in all it's an enjoyable read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Steve Berry writes a good historically based thriller. He incorporates a blend of action, intrigue, plot twists, comfortably familiar characters, and enough historical fact - and mysteries - to keep his novels entertaining, faced paced, and interesting. "The Patriot Threat" is no exception.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very appropriate read with Tax day just around the corner. Love his commentaries at the end showing the facts behind the fiction. This one has alot of relevance. Couple redundancies but otherwise another one that makes him the great writer that he is.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Patriot Threat is the 10th book in the Cotton Malone series. The main premise of the book is whether or not the 16th Amendment of the Constitution legalized federal income tax. Was there a problem with the 1913 ratification of the law? North Korea seems to have gotten the information about this top secret and could bring the US to their knees. The book also features history about Franklin Roosevelt and arch-rival Andrew Mellon. Also includes travel from Venice into Croatia. This book was not my favorite of the series. It was very interesting but contained a lot of repeat information that was not necessary. I will, however, continue with the series as I need to keep up with Cotton Malone and his adventures. I would recommend this book to those who like history.