The Columbus Affair

He was called by many names-Columb, Colom,Colón-but we know him as Christopher Columbus. Many questions about him exist:Where was he born, raised, and educated? Where did he die? How did he discover the New World?


None have ever been properly answered.
 


And then there is the greatest secret of all.
 


From Steve Berry, New York Timesbestselling author, comes an exciting new adventure-one that challenges everything we thought we knew about the discovery of America.
 


Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Tom Sagan has written hard-hitting articles from hot spots around the world. But when a controversial report from a war-torn region is exposed as a fraud,his professional reputation crashes and burns. Now he lives in virtual exile-haunted by bad decisions and the shocking truth he can never prove: that his downfall was a deliberate act of sabotage by an unknown enemy. But before Sagan can end his torment with the squeeze of a trigger, fate intervenes in the form of an enigmatic stranger with a request that cannot be ignored.
 


Zachariah Simon has the look of a scholar, the soul of a scoundrel, and the zeal of a fanatic. He also has Tom Sagan's estranged daughter at his mercy. Simon desperately wants something only Sagan can supply: the key to a 500-year-old mystery, a treasure with explosive political significance in the modern world. For both Simon and Sagan the stakesare high, the goal intensely personal, the consequences of opposing either man potentially catastrophic. On a perilous quest from Florida to Vienna to Prague and finally to the mountains of Jamaica, the two men square off in a dangerous game. Along the way, both of their lives will be altered-and everything we know about Christopher Columbus will change.

Steve Berry is the New York Times bestselling author of The Balkan Escape, The Paris Vendetta, The CharlemagnePursuit, The Venetian Betrayal, The Alexandria Link, The Templar Legacy, TheThird Secret, The Romanov Prophecy, and The Amber Room. His books have been translated into 37 languages and sold in 50 countries. Helives in the historic city of St. Augustine, Florida and is at work on his next novel. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have founded History Matters, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving our heritage. To learn more about Steve and the foundation, visit www.steveberry.org.

Praise for Steve Berry

"Berry raises this genre's stakes."-The NewYork Times

"As always with Steve Berry, you're educatedabout significant things while your knuckles are turning white and the pagesare flying by."-#1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci

"For those in need of a comparison, think JackBauer and the hit television series 24, with twists, turns, schemes andcounter-schemes manifesting themselves by the second. . . . Berry's on aroll."-Los Angeles Times

"I love this guy."-#1 New York Timesbestselling author Lee Child

"Forget Clancy and Cussler. When it comes tothis genre, there is simply no one better."-The Providence Journal

"Steve Berry writes with the self-assured styleof a veteran."-#1 New York Times bestselling author Dan Brown