The Medici Return

Cotton Malone is on the hunt for a forgotten 16th century Pledge of Christ—a sworn promise made by Pope Julius II that evidences a monetary debt owed by the Vatican, still valid after five centuries—now worth in the trillions of dollars. But collecting that debt centers around what happened to the famed Medici of Florence—a family that history says died out, without heirs, centuries ago.

As with all Steve Berry novels, you cannot beat the history. He does some fabulous research and certainly incorporates all of it into the storyline with great skill and intensity!

And there is not a better character than Cotton Malone. I love his intelligence and his strengths. Now I will say, this is the best Cotton Malone novel in quite a while. I show more enjoy the Medici’s history. And to think of one returning….oh added so much to the drama and intrigue.

And y’all!! This is narrated by my favorite, Scott Brick. You cannot go wrong with the audio version. This is narrated by the best!

Every time I review one of Steve Berry’s books, I always have to mention my favorite, The Amber Room. This is a book that is in my top 20 of all time. I highly recommend you read this one as well!

Need a good historical mystery with lots of intensity…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. show less

The Medici Return (Malone #19) (2025) by Steve Berry. Somehow Cotton Malone appears to be more mixed up in his former line of work now than he could ever have been before he retired. I know he likes to help out when he can, but really, is there no one else in the Magellan Billet that could handle the work load. Of course good help is hard to find and they don’t make them like they used to. Not that I am complaining. Cotton Malone is a great lead character and the stories that are acted out around him are very compelling, so I am hoping he will continue on long into the future.
He is once again working with the Vatican, or maybe he is working against the Vatican, either way there are high religious figures doing dirty deeds, murder, show more horse race fixing, blackmail and several other cardinal sins. There are those good priest who come to his rescue, but mainly he is on his own as he tries to solve several murders trailing from Germany and into the heart of Rome while making important stops in Florence and Sienna along the way.
The cast of supporting characters are well drawn with thoughtful motives and the action is propulsive to say the least. I hate to go into too much detail as the fun of most books is discovering the surprises as you read.
This may not be the best of the Malone books, but I can’t figure out which one that would be: I’ll leave it to you to decide. For me I think the best one is going to be the next one, but what do I know.
A good read is what I know, and this book is one of them. show less

I have read all of the Cotton Malone books all of them have been good. The Medici Return is one of the best though. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the history of the Medici and Pazzi clans. The Pignus Christi, the Pledge of Christ, referred to in the plot is not real however. While I was still reading, I researched the pledge online and found nothing. "Pignus" is a Latin word that means "pledge" so a pignus christi is translated as the pledge of christ. In Roman law, pignus referred to a pledge given to a creditor to secure an obligation. In this story Pope Julius gave this such pledge to Giuliano de Medici in exchange for ten million flori. The Author's Note at the end of the story cleared up my question whether the Pignus Christi show more was real. It isn't. Berry made it up. This was creative! By the time Malone is searching for this IOU, the Medici family has died out and a man who believes he is a lawful Medici heir is also searching for it. Others who are looking for it include two powerful Cardinals, one who is striving to be the next Pope.

The pace was pleasant, neither fast nor slow. With so much history written into the novel, a slower than normal pace for a Steve Berry book was appropriate. If there was anything that bothered me it was the part where Cotton participated in a horse race in Siena called the
Palio. It did not advance the plot so I am puzzled why it was inserted. Steve Berry stated that he saw this race during one of his visits to Italy and that he was fascinated by it. Maybe that is the answer to my question. show less

I am a Steve Berry fan and The Medici Return showed up on my Kindle last week. I did not hesitate: it is a personal tradition to read them right away. This one did not disappoint with lot of historical conspiracies spilling over into the modern day world. Nothing surprising: Cotton Mather gets pulled into a situation beyond his control that involves the Vatican and old debts. This time, we learn a bit about the Carthusians.

The Da Vinci Code Book Number Nine-thousand and Six-hundred and Eighty-eight.

When I decided to buy this book, I did so with the intention of some light reading. And in that sense the book did not disappoint. I could initially see it as being 4-stars as it started off entertaining enough and it was fast reading. But then the story got a bit tiresome because I felt that I had read the same a thousand times. I was losing interest, and had trouble keeping the characters straight. Who is this person again? What is his or her deal? Why do they keep popping up? Read a bit and then go - "oh, yeah, that right" - and continue on until I forgot who they are all over again.

And while Cotton Malone riding in the Palio horse race was actually well show more done, with the possible exception of him being slow on the uptake, the whole premise was pretty absurd. You might as well as had him as part of the Calcio Storico, and maybe throw in some medieval jousting as well to complete the trifecta.

Even the climax, written in short little bursts, was really weak. Oooh, saved the day. Never saw that coming.

Bad people, bad monks, bad church. Yeah, been there, done that. A reworked "The Omega Factor" also by Steve Berry. show less

Cotton Malone tries to solve the murder of a Swiss Guardsman and find a forgotten 16th Century
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