Did not finish this book, it was just too wordy and slow. I could not get into it. I will not post to social media.

Does the Pledge of Christ from centuries ago really exist...That is what Cotton Malone has to figure out after being sent by his former boss to assist the Vatican in a secret matter that goes terribly wrong. During the assignment Cotton further learns that there are many members of the Vatican that cannot be trusted as they will lie, cheat, steal and even have murder committed to get what they want. That is not a good look for the church, and so many others will cover it up. Cotton, with the help of a trusted few from the church, will expose the main one committing these terrible acts and see that the Pope is made aware and that this person is stopped permanently. Along the way this book adds lots of real history from centuries ago as well as some very interesting not true elements that add very well to the over all book.

I've long loved the Cotton Malone series, but this one felt a little underwhelming. This adventure finds him in Italy, called in to figure out what is going on with a Cardinal at the Vatican. While there are some interesting scenes at the Palio in Siena and at a Carthusian monastery, the central mystery was not overly complex. I still enjoyed the book, but perhaps after 19 books Cotton's escapades are not quite as vibrant as they once were. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. Steve Berry is one of my few "I'll read anything" authors. While this is not in my top 3 of his, I certainly enjoyed it. The history is, as usual, fascinating and creates a unique what-if. The action is solid, especially the Siena scenes. If you like Berry, it's an above average Cotton Malone entry. If you're new to him, it's a good introduction to his books.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Cotton Malone spends this book entirely in Italy solving a 500 year old mystery of a large loan made to the Vatican. I loved learning a lot about Florence and the famous horse race Palio di Siena--which I had the pleasure of seeing 35 years ago. I am always amazed by Steve Berry's ability to take history and turn it into an exciting adventure with modern implications. Another solid addition to the Cotton Malone series.

First, a huge thank you to Grand Central Publishing, Steve Berry and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

What an awesome book. I knew very little of the Medici, but knew that I loved books by Steve Berry. I was so happy to get a copy of this and very eager to check it out. The story is very fast paced. I couldn’t put the book down. I have to say that this is up there with my all time favorite books by this author. The characters were very relatable and likeable. (At least the “good guys”).

Highly recommend this book. Pick it up. You will not regret it!

Steve Berry weaves well researched history with edge of your seat suspense in this latest installment of the Cotton Malone series. This can easily be read as a stand alone but I highly recommend the entire series beginning with "Templar Legacy." His characters are well developed, the plot moves along at a brisk pace and there are a few twists and turns to up the intrigue level. I appreciate too that in the afterward he separates fact from fiction to leave the reader better educated about the subject matter. Highly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advanced reader copy.

I will send the link if Kevin uses it
HReview of Steve Berry’s The Medici Return
This one I received in advance of its pub date from the publisher through NetGallery.
This is the 19th in Berry’s series featuring Cotton Malone, an intrepid detective now working for a secret US agency. Through them Malone becomes involved with helping the Catholic church with a sticky problem calling for confidentiality and break in skills. Malone, armed with those skills , his eidetic memory, and flair for languages (helped by same) ships off to Italy to find evidence of wrongdoing by a cardinal of the church. Who hired him? Vatican. Who is the villain? Another arm of the Vatican—so many secrets here! And oh yes, the Medici! (A 500 year old mystery enters in)
When it comes to popes, the Medici were no slouches. When it comes to dirty dealing, the same. Plot issues here span centuries and connect to modern day crimes. One of the things I absolutely love about this book is the setting in Italy—Sienna, which I only got to know in 2023, Florence where I spent a lot of time while a student in Bologna, and oh yes, the Vatican museum and my beloved Rome.
Each of these carries a wonderful weight of historical interest and intrigue. Enough for ten books. In this case, Sienna and its annual Palio, a free for all of an historic horse race becomes a central element to the plot. Berry is ingenious as to how he works this into his tale about finding = an ancient document. I applaud his creativity and oh yes, I must applaud the horsemanship of Cotton Malone as well. Heroes such as cotton Malone are often invested with far-beyond-normal abilities to deal with things like taking over the jockey role in a bareback race, the Palio. I was happy to suspend disbelief and bear down with Malone as he leaned over the neck of his steed and pushed forward to the goal while other jockeys tried to trip them up and a gunman had a rifle trained on Malone.
Wait, do you think all of this distracted me from the main mystery? Who killed the Swiss guard in the book’s early pages? The mysterious missing Medici era document that would cost the church billions of dollars if found? The two or three other subsequent murders and attempts on Malone’s life that follow? Nope.
Never fear—Berry is a master juggler of plot elements. These balls are never out of sight. To draw on another metaphor, he weaves all of the threads cleverly, carefully and at just the right moment, inserts one than then another element together to keep readers on track even as the plot twists and turns with more gyrations than that round, stone track in Sienna’s main piazza.

I’m only a so-so Malone fan in general, in spite of good dialogue and plotting, but this book brought out Berry’s writing skills and took me back to a city (Sienna) I enjoy, and had me traipsing through Rome and Florence, two cities I love, while still captivating me with the plot, so I must give this book a five star recommendation.

Both for fans of Malone, occasional readers of the series such as myself and dare I say—even if if you have never read Berry’s Malone series before, I think you will enjoy this fast-paced well and deviously plotted book.
Five stars
ere is what I am sending to his review magazine

Thank you Steve Berry, Grand Central Publishing ( @grandcentralpub ), and NetGalley ( @netgalley ) for allowing me to read The Medici Return early (out February 11, 2025).

Another winning book by Steve Berry in the Cotton Malone series!

The unrecognized heir of the historic Medici family tries to find proof of his family relationships in order to gain the favor of the Catholic Church in an upcoming election. But the Church doesn’t want these secrets to be revealed. And American Cotton Malone finds himself right in the middle, yet again.

This book started out a little slow with me. There was a lot of history and backstory setting up the plot. However, once that was past and the action ramped up, I could not put it down! Another great addition to the Cotton Malone series.

#TheMediciReturn #NetGalley #SteveBerry #GrandCentralPublishing

Great edition to the Cotton Malone series. I enjoyed the information about the Medici dynasty and their connections to the Vatican and popes. The new characters were well-developed and the plot flowed.

Cotton Malone is once again drawn out of his comfortable retirement as a bookseller in Copenhagen to investigate another historical mystery based on real life events from the annals of the past and connected to real life current events.

Steve Berry always breaks down, in his afterword, what is known history, what is speculation, and what he has invented himself. The many true historical connections between the ruling Medici family of Florence and the Popes in Rome (some of them Medici themselves) are Berry's starting point in this book.

The McGuffin is Berry's speculation of some deeper connections that may reverberate to present-day Italian politics as well as papal politics in the Vatican. Cotton is initially drawn in merely to double check an allegation against a German Cardinal in a financial scandal. But he get more deeply involved as the layers of the onion are peeled back on the Medici mystery.

A McGuffin, to review for those who are unfamiliar with the term coined by Alfred Hitchcock, is the thing that everyone covets in a classic double chase thriller. The good guys are on the run from both the bad guys and the authorities while they try to learn the truth behind the McGuffin.

Hitchcock believed the McGuffin itself was unimportant as long as the audience believed it to be strong enough motivation for the bad guys to drive the plot. But the mechanics of a double chase have become so predictable that (for me at least) the McGuffin is the main attraction -- yeah the bad guys are interested in the McGuffin, but more importantly, am I interested in the McGuffin?

Steve Berry has always centered his thrillers around highly interesting McGuffins, which is why I've read every one of his 19 Cotton Malone books, most of the Malone-Cassiopeia Vitt short stories, both Luke Daniels books co-written with Grant Blackwood, and all the standalone novels. So yes, I'm a fan, and it is the McGuffin -- and the puzzles he crafts for his protagonists to solve -- that draw me in.

This time, the McGuffin is only of mild interest to me -- maybe others will find it more interesting. For one thing, the Medici had their own TV series, so the history has been presented in detail before. Then there's that pesky Dan Brown (who in my estimation takes a back seat to Mr. Berry) who has already written extensively about the Vatican and Renaissance Florence.

But if that is a slight drawback, there is something really awesome to counterbalance it. In addition to his well-researched history, Berry always sets his stories in places he has recently visited -- what a great gig, having to travel all over the world to visit places you want to write about!

In this case, the centerpiece of the book, which Berry experienced firsthand, is the running of the Palio in Siena -- a horse race like no other. Cotton gets deeply involved in the Palio, and we get a detailed look at every aspect of the spectacle -- not just the race itself, although that is presented spectacularly, even if you have to suspend your disbelief quite a bit to imagine an aging Cotton participating in it.

Not quite as detailed but more of a new experience for me is the Calcio Storico of Florence, an early form of rugby or American football that has been played for over 500 years. Similar to Siena's Palio in its overall cultural structure, it centers on a competition so violent that it makes rugby look like the Ballet Russe. After reading about it here, I watched some it on YouTube.

So maybe a 3 1/2 star read based on plot and McGuffin and an historical background that is already well-known, but I elevate it to four stars because of its compelling setting, the Palio in Siena plus the Calcio Storico in Florence.

Steve Berry has been my favorite author for over a decade and the Cotton Malone series holds a special place in my heart. This newest edition to the series was not my favorite but I think it was a solid book. Berry sticks to his recipe and delivers action and mystery in a way that never got boring (for me).

This book definitely feels like book 20 in the series. At times there were info dumps and refreshes from earlier books that are helpful but (as with all books) can slow the pace down.

I look forward to every book Steve Berry writes, he is an auto-buy author for me and one I always recommend!

I love Steve Berry's installments of the Cotton Malone series. I have read every single one. This one fell sort of flat for me. Maybe it's because they mostly follow the same formula. I love the setting (Florence) and the topics (the Medici family). The story just seemed to get too bogged down in the historical fiction aspect this time for me. There was a lot more political storyline also. Overall, Steve Berry is always a solid read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advance copy for my honest review.

The Medici Return
By Steve Berry

This book is the latest in the Cotton Malone series of thrillers. Malone is a man of many parts: he has been in the Navy, been a JAG lawyer, worked as a field agent for a secret intelligence agency under the Justice
Department, and now owns a rare book shop in Copenhagen since his retirement. He is now pushing 50 and only works clandestinely occasionally, as a favor to his old boss, Stephanie Nelle.

If you have read previous books, this one will feel very familiar. There are always multiple "bad guys" whom Malone must outwit. And, as in previous books, some of them are straight out of the Vatican. Corruption in the hierarchy of the Catholic church seems to be a recurring theme.

If you are a Cotton Malone fan, Mr. Berry does not disappoint here.

On Steve Berry's Facebook page:
Karen Smith Hildebrand
Just finished the NetGalley DRC. I have always been fascinated with the Medicis. Having visited Tuscany, this book is like revisiting the area with an intriguing mystery to guide you. Great story. Loved the historical detail.

This book was pretty good, I would definitely recommend

~This was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

A possible Medici heir, a long ago papal pledge to repay a loan from the Medici’s, and Church politics weaves history and current events together. Cotton Malone is once again called into action, but soon realizes that he was used to frame an innocent man. Unfortunately, some of the papal hierarchy are willing to do anything to protect the Church.
The story didn’t capture my interest as others in this series have done, but the Medicis are a fascinating story in themselves.
Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

This continues the author’s Cotton Malone series. Unlike several of the most recent ones, it does bring in a cast of supporting characters, but focuses on Malone. It is an interesting and engaging read which also makes it a fairly quick read. Fans of the Cotton Malone character will definitely enjoy this book.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Goodreads, Net Galley, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog.

Cotton Malone certainly isn't getting any younger - nor am I, one who's been following his adventures for some time now (this is the 19th installment in the series). We've both long since retired - but we're both keeping our hats in the employment ring to a certain degree. Cotton has a main squeeze, and he's happy he's got her and a rare-books store to run. But when his old boss and friend, Stephanie Nelle calls, he's usually willing and able to take on whatever task she has in mind.

This one ventures into the territory of another of my favorite authors, Dan Brown, heavily - and I do mean heavily - laced with the history of the Catholic church, Italy, the famous (infamous??) Medici family and all the ties therein going back to the 1400s. The focus, in fact, is on an IOU of note - one made by the church back then, when the Medicis saved the Papal hides from bankruptcy (or whatever they did back then when they ran out of money) by way of a huge loan that's worth billions today.

By this time, though, the Medici family is extinct and that IOU exists only in the minds of a few people who still believe it exists and are determined to locate a copy of it. That includes a powerful current Cardinal and Pope wannabe, a man who wants to use the IOU to blackmail the church into adopting a new political stance and a man who always believed he's a legitimate Medici heir and is desperate to prove it.

The story follows all these factions and people, as well as characters and history related to each; needless to say, this isn't an easy book to follow. I lost count of the times I needed to backtrack a page or two (or three) to figure out which person I'm reading about, and more than once I skimmed over some of the historical paragraphs, well, just because.

Some of it was a bit implausible - like the happenings at the annual horse race in Sienna, I believe (at your age, Cotton? Seriously?), but it also added to the intrigue and overall impact. As always, the loose ends are pretty neatly tied up by the end, and the whole thing is another winner. Just know it's not one of those books you can read with one eye while keeping the other on a TV show you don't want to miss. As for me, I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

With any Cotton Malone book, you know exactly what to expect: fast-paced action, moments that might stretch your suspension of disbelief, well-researched plots, and incredible settings you'd love to explore (if you haven't already). It’s not literary gold—but it’s guaranteed fun!

This time, Cotton takes us to Florence, one of the first places I ever visited in Italy. My wife, if given the choice, would retire to Italy—so you can see why we have a special fondness for the setting. Perhaps that connection made me enjoy this story a touch more than other Steve Berry titles.

That said, one downside is Berry's apparent anti-religious tone, which I’ve noticed in other books in the series, like The Templar Legacy. It might alienate some readers. However, for everyone else, this is an engaging and entertaining thriller.