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The Bishop's Pawn  By  cover art

The Bishop's Pawn

By: Steve Berry
Narrated by: Scott Brick, Kevin Free, Steve Berry
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Publisher's summary

In this audiobook, Steve Berry and Macmillan Audio team up again to bring listeners an expanded, annotated Writer's Cut edition of The Bishop's Pawn. This Writer's Cut edition features fascinating behind-the-scenes commentary read by the author. If you'd like to listen to The Bishop's Pawn WITHOUT Steve Berry's commentary, just play the program from the beginning. To listen to the Writer's Cut version WITH Steve Berry's commentary, start with Download Part 2 at 11 hours, 39 minutes.

History recalls that the ugly feud between J. Edgar Hoover and Martin Luther King, Jr., - marked by years of illegal surveillance and the accumulation of secret files - ended on April 4, 1968, when King was assassinated by James Earl Ray. But that may not have been the case.

Now, 50 years later, former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone must reckon with the truth of what really happened that fateful day in Memphis.

It all turns on an incident from 18 years ago, when Malone, as a young navy lawyer, was trying hard not to live up to his burgeoning reputation as a maverick. When Stephanie Nelle, a high-level Justice Department lawyer, enlists him to help with an investigation, he jumps at the opportunity. But he soon discovers that two opposing forces, the Justice Department and the FBI, are at war over a rare coin and a cadre of secret files containing explosive revelations about the King assassination - information that could ruin innocent lives and threaten the legacy of the civil rights movement's greatest martyr.

Malone's decision to see it through to the end - from the raucous bars of Mexico to the clear waters of the Dry Tortugas and ultimately into the halls of power within Washington, DC, itself - changes not only his own life but the course of history.

Steve Berry always mines the lost riches of history; in The Bishop's Pawn, he imagines a gripping, provocative thriller about an American icon.

©2018 Magellan Billet, Inc (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Scott Brick continues to bolster his status as one of the best narrators of international thrillers with his excellent reading of Berry's latest...Brick easily negotiates his way through this complex plot, his confident delivery keeps the suspense high while bringing a solid reality to a story that often walks a fine line between the believable and the improbable." — Publishers Weekly on The Venetian Betrayal

"Narrator Scott Brick's smooth voice flows with the twists and turns of Berry's political thriller...Secrets unravel, and tensions rise as Brick shifts vocal focus from the historical secret society to contemporary conspirators who include corrupt politicians and judges." — AudioFile Magazine on The Lost Order

What listeners say about The Bishop's Pawn

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No! No! No! No!

I'm a fan of Steve Berry; or it's more correct to say I was before this novel. Steve Berry tries to change history and the net effect is the complete fictional destruction of this great man (Dr. King). Author Berry makes the case, the deeply flawed case, that Martin Luther King was not murdered but basically committed suicide in order to cement his successes and his legacy. To suggest as the author does that Dr. King planned his own death is a conspiracy theory unfit to print.

The Bishop's Pawn is a disgusting novel. It is the last work of Steve Berry I will ever read or listen to.

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22 people found this helpful

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partisan political preaching

This author's stories tend to bend a little left. That is OK. But, to have the current condition of the black community blamed on Bill Clinton giving in to the republican congress on welfare reform and by inferance that republicans are the enemies of civil rights and the black community is irrational and absurd. I expect that authors will bend to their social and political beliefs and I can enjoy exploring different perspectives through the characters. But propaganda and spouting bovine fical effluvia will stop me from purchasing any more works from this author and I recommend the same to other potential readers.

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12 people found this helpful

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The bishops pawn

Wow! What a fantastic novel. Cotton Malone remains as a combination of James Bond and Jason Bourne with a bit of Ghanaian. Although this is a novel which Steve Berry always separates fact from fiction, I have learned more about history than all the seminars and biographies I have read. This is more poignant because I have lived through all of this. Thank you Steve.

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10 people found this helpful

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Irreverant Imposition of Character Assasination

What disappointed you about The Bishop's Pawn?

The utter fictional destruction of two historical figures based on interpretation & projection of supposition as evidence is appalling... The author attempts in vain to justify this work of fiction as a credible version of History!

What do you think your next listen will be?

The Romanov Ranson

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Scott Brick is always Great!

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

NO

Any additional comments?

I have read every Cotton Novel written by Mr Berry & I am very disappointed in this writing...

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9 people found this helpful

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Disappointing compared to all other Cotton stories

I love all of the other Cotton books but this one just didn’t do the trick sadly. I will try again though and hope the next one is better.

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6 people found this helpful

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Wow

I am an old woman, and remember this tumultuous time well. My partner is a native born Memphian, who stood in the courthouse with his Father and watched the riots on the street below after Reverend King's death. We have talked about that and race relations in Memphis. I thought I was relatively well informed. This book proved that belief false.I just finished this book, and am still reeling. It highlights, in Mr. Berry's inimical fashion, the history of the civil rights movement, and postulates a version I have never considered. I don't want to say anything that would be a spoiler, so I will say no more on that. I can see why some folks were turned off by the obvious political bias expressed, but, overall, this is a really good book, one I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys Mr. Berry's other Cotton Malone books. It gives insight into the characters we have come to know, and the choices Cotton made which leave him where he ended up in the last book. I found that alone a wonderful aspect of this book.

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5 people found this helpful

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Left Wing Propaganda Wrapped in Childish Plot

One of the worst books I've ever ordered. Kept reading hoping it would get better but only got more sophomoric and political. In the end a feeble attempt to glorify a great man's work that only serves to diminish. Dr King doesn't need tributes by such as Berry

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4 people found this helpful

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Excellent Book

I loved this book. The story content is fascinating and I had a hard time putting it down!

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4 people found this helpful

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Another Excellent Cotton Malone Story

I am an avid follower of Steve Berry and his Cotton Malone stories. This one is about MLK's last few years and death. It is told in first person and is released for the 50th anniversary of MLK's death. The idea of unwinding the events with payment for services to the FBI with double eagle coins, hidden records and tapes is brilliant. Enjoy this page turner...in my case, audio book so I can still get things done... otherwise all would swirl around me as I read this novel.

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4 people found this helpful

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Not your usual Cotton Malone

This book is unlike the others in the series. It isn't bad but it isn't an action packed thriller either. Steve Berry had a political axe to grind and this is his vehicle to do so.

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3 people found this helpful