What does a 200-year-old Revolutionary War social club have to do with the USSR?

The answer to this essential question will shed light on what is actually at play in THE 14th COLONY. Steve Berry may be the best in the business at writing historical thrillers, and no one captures the spirit of American history better than he does. The seamless way in which he blends both fact and fiction to continually produce superb thrillers is something readers should marvel at.

Now let's return to the question I just posed. The novel opens with a prologue that features U.S. President Ronald Reagan meeting with Pope John Paul II in Vatican City in June 1982. In a nutshell, the gist of the meeting is to discuss the USSR and how they can be dismantled due to the nuclear threat they pose to the globe and all of mankind.

"Berry's novels always make you think and will leave you walking away with several 'what if' scenarios playing around in your head. THE 14th COLONY is no exception..."

Jump back to the present, where the Justice Department's Magellan Billet agent Cotton Malone is tasked with possibly the most important mission of his life. With the Magellan Billet facing extinction due to the arrival of a new presidential administration, Malone is sent on what may be his final cover operation. The goal is to locate a former KGB mastermind named Aleksandr Zorin, an extremely dangerous man who is still fighting the Cold War.

While Malone continues his search in dangerous parts of Russia, Stephanie Nelle and the outgoing POTUS are fighting to keep the Magellan Billet relevant. This will take serious convincing from the incoming President, who does not see the value in the covert ops arm of the Justice Department. Little does the next President know that the secret behind the 14th colony mystery reveals a decades-long plot by the KGB to bring down the entire U.S. government.

Both Malone and Nelle converge on the same clue --- one of America's oldest societies, known as the Society of Cincinnati. What is revealed are the times in U.S. history that attempts were made to make Canada a part of the U.S. The first time was during the Revolutionary War. With Canada under the rule of Great Britain, there was much cause for apprehension on the part of the U.S. if their neighbors from the north were used as a way for the British to infiltrate during the war. The discussion of making Canada the 14th U.S. colony was thus given serious consideration.

Another occasion was during WWII at a point when the U.S. feared a Nazi takeover of Europe and what that would mean for Canada. Having Nazi rule so close to the U.S. did not sit well with FDR. Getting back to the action in THE 14th COLONY, Berry uses Canada as a major plot element. What if the KGB had sent agents from Canada into the U.S. and planted bombs at strategic locations? What if one of these locations was the nation's capital? To make things even more deadly, what if one or more of these bombs were set to go off during the inauguration ceremony for the entire new Presidential cabinet?

Berry's novels always make you think and will leave you walking away with several “what if” scenarios playing around in your head. THE 14th COLONY is no exception, and the pulse-pounding action and intrigue do not let up until the fateful confrontation between Cotton Malone and his team and the maniacal Zorin.