The Columbus Affair

I recently read Run by Ann Patchett, and now have finished reading The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry.  Oddly enough, the two authors use a similar religious custom or device in each of their novels, and I cannot help but wonder if they did not get together and decide to do this, seeing how each could incorporate such an idea in their story.  Rather than spoiling it for future readers, I will just say that it is strange that I read both books within a time period that is clearly likely that they may have decided together to do this task.  If they did not, I find it a strange and unusual fact that in each case the succession must be according to sex.  For that reason alone, I am convinced that they corroborated together while writing these two books.

Nevertheless, Steve Berry stays true to his having to run all over the world to research information for his novel. This time he had to go to Prague and to Jamaica.  He writes a fascinating story in which he delves seriously into the customs and traditions of the Jewish people.  Ann Patchett's book is about Irish Catholics. 

Berry takes on the journey of Christopher Columbus in a way that nobody has ever dreamt possible or likely until you read his book and begin to wonder.  Is this novel of fiction based upon any kind of truth or not?  He does discuss the differences in the fiction and the so called truth of the tales at the end of the book.  I am reminded that I never take history very seriously since most of us are given only a very rudimentary education in our school years and then forget it altogether.

He does convince me that the story of Columbus being Italian is totally false.  He is apparently Castilian Spanish.  The plot is always simple. Find a treasure hidden somewhere or your daughter or yourself will die, and naturally, in that process, many people do die along the way while the former Pulitzer Prize winning journalist tries to redeem himself to restore his own reputation and name having had lost it in a dastardly way.  The descriptions of the people of Jamaica are fascinating as is the description of the island and its many caves, mountains, and mysteries.  Very few noble characters in this novel but a few are quite fascinating to meet.