At the public library, I had a pile of books and audio books haphazardly balancing in my arms, when I came across Steve Berry’s The Venetian Betrayal. I never read Steve Berry’s works, but it looked interesting, so I picked it up. I’m glad I did! Undercover agents, secret plots, archaeology, biological warfare, Greek fire . . . I’m surprised it isn’t a movie, yet.

The novel starts during the time of Alexander the Great, who just experienced the loss of his friend and lover Hephaestion to a strange disease and which Alexander contracted and succumbed to the same disease soon after. Jump forward to current day Europe, and we find our heroes in a quest to find Alexander’s tomb and a possible cure for one of the deadliest modern-day plights – HIV/AIDS – before a despotic leader and a money-hungry, self serving fat man use the tomb and cure to their political and economic advantage.

The language can be a bit cheesy and the plot predictable but The Venetian Betrayal is pure, gooey adventure entertainment – don’t pass it up!

Good guys trying to stop bad guys from gaining power through chemical warfare. Greedy guys wanting to gain maximum profit from cure for AIDS. Everyone wanting to solve the riddle that leads to Alexander the Great's tomb.