The Warsaw Protocol: A Novel (Cotton Malone Book 15)

No one. See my previous comments on the political bent of this book. Really ruined it for me and who knows how many others.

I’ve read all of Steve Barry’s books, alas this will be my last. I can take a dig or two, yet I lost count of how many times Barry took the opportunity to dig Trump. Yeah, we get it, you don’t like Trump. Pretty silly, actually, as I’d bet that the deplorables were the ones that were largely buying your books.Once you can get past the jerk in the White House diatribe, it’s a decent enough book. It’s no War and Peace or a To Kill a Mockingbird (but then again, that’s not Barry’s caliber...), it’s a typical formulaic book. Bad guy, good guy, evil empire, America, bla bla bla. Apparently Barry thinks we can’t tell the difference when all of his books are the same. What he doesn’t understand is that we buy these books for something to temporarily occupy our minds, not to learn something profound. We all know how it will end. Given this, there’s plenty of fiction fodder for us to read at $15 a pop that doesn’t insult our intelligence. Or our President.

Many of Berry’s last books have been unbelievable but at least they were fun. His “ political” insights are unnecessary and wrong and ruin the readers enjoyment.

Steve Berry is a great story teller. But why after 15 Cotton Malone did you get political?Not Good Mr Berry, Not Good

I've read all of the Cotton Malone series, beginning years ago with the Templar Legacy. While the prose is weak, the plots have been imaginative, educational, and fun. By weak prose, if I hear about someone "tucking into" their meal, I cringe. Some books this is described 10+ times. Obnoxious.The Warsaw Protocol hits a low with the plot early on. I'm 20% into the novel and there's a weird vibe about the president, who is clearly a Trump stand-in, and it's in a way that is very unbalanced. I had a sense with Daniels that he worked both sides of the aisle and got things done and you could not tell Republican vs. Democrat. Clearly this novel disparages the current Trump administration, repeatedly and with vigor.For a number of the last novels, I've thought that there was a lot of ghost writing. This is now an even stronger opinion - the writing is weaker and so is the plot. I'll go along for a while more and will update this review.At this time I intend to end the series. Unfortunate, as they've had a nice run.

The Warsaw Protocol had the potential to be as good as the previous Cotton Malone novels. In general the characters are as engaging and enjoyable as they have been in the past. In many ways I have identified with Cotton as it seems that our paths could have crossed frequently in the past. However, the narrative is replete with the propaganda, fake news, and sound bites promulgated by CNN, MSNBC, the Obama hold overs and the democrats out to destroy the President. Near the end Stephanie Nelle commented that it wasn't their place to impeach the President. He was elected by the people. So true.This is one of the rare books that I wish I could return for a refund. At least I have the option to never again purchase a book written by Steve Berry. I feel a loss.

I’ve read and enjoyed the series and all the other books mr. Berry has written But wow this one does not look like Barry’s writing.Many people noted and decried his turning it into a political comment on Trump but if you’ve read even a few of the prior works doesn’t it appear to be more like the whole story was actually authored by someone else? I’d refer you to the new short store Authored by mr. Barry and M J Rose, “Museum Mystery’’ read it and see what you think.I’ve enjoyed him far to long to give up on him immediately but I’ll stop buying his new books until I read a review that indicates what I’d be buying is Steve Barry’s work... as I used to enjoy it.G.D. D. III

Steve Berry's Cotton Malone books are well worth reading, and this one is no exception. Berry takes advantage of Europe's vast number of historical sites, good restaurants, and such to weave interesting and plausible stories. At the end of each novel, he gives several pages over to explaining which items in the book are real and which are of his own invention. (I like this attention to detail.)In this novel, Cotton is dragged into the search for historical records of Poland's troubled past under the Communists. There is plenty of action and intrigue. Cotton is torn between doing what is "right" and doing what the President of the US wants - a character in Berry's books who has some of the negative characteristics of President Trump, but which Berry amplifies. (Berry comes very close to being added to the growing number of authors that add their current political opinions into their works of fiction.)I read for the Amazon Vine program pre-publication books, which are "proof copies" which have not gone through the full proofreading process, and I find a number of grammatical errors in those. However, I do not expect to find them in a finished published book like The Warsaw Protocol.I found three in this book. On page 23 the author writes "The Polish crown jewel had been hid here when the Swedes invaded..." That should read "hidden" not "hid". On page 307 and again on page 356 the author uses the term "did good" when to be grammatically correct he should have used "did well".In addition to those errors, there is one continuity error - on page 331 Cotton turns off the electric motor to the boat to let it coast forward, and then on page 332 he turns the motor off again, without having restarted it.OK, I am a bit picky about good grammar and continuity, but to me those errors knocked this down from a five star book to a four star book.

Steve Berry's books involving Cotton Malone are always a thrilling adventure. This is not different. The added historical parts about Poland make the story more interesting because I am sure no person has really read about the country's struggle for democracy for such a long time. The added material makes the story more real and in the end you come away with a very good international adventure but also with very much history about Poland that becomes interesting being connected with the story.

I love this author as he writes about historical facts and turns them into an interesting story then tells you at the end what is fact and what is fiction.

I found this volume harder to get involved with than the rest. Possibly me but it seemed a little disjointed in places.

Another good book in the Cotton Malone series, I now have to wait for the next instalment. Steve Berry books are always worth a read

Another Good Cotton Malone story the pages just fly by. I look forward to reading Cotton Malones next exciting adventure