‘The Lincoln Myth’: Historical fiction interesting if not thrilling

What if the Founding Fathers had expressly, but secretly, left the individual states an 'out” clause, providing clear permission for legal secession from the United States?

That's the question that drives Steve Berry's latest thriller, 'The Lincoln Myth” (Ballantine Books, 429 pages, $27). The ninth book featuring former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone finds him racing to upend the plans of some ambitious, highly placed Mormons who hope to find a secret document that will allow them to turn Utah into a separate country. At the heart of their quest is a secret deal Abraham Lincoln made with Brigham Young to keep Young from damaging the Union cause during the Civil War.

The plot involves some globe-trotting, including a key stop (and confrontation) at Salisbury House in Des Moines. There is plenty of the intrigue, double crossing and hidden motivations that one expects in novels of this kind. Malone finds himself at odds with his putative girlfriend, Cassiopeia Vitt, whose loyalties are strained when she is sent to cozy up to a dangerous and deluded man she once loved.

Despite a fair amount of action, 'The Lincoln Myth” feels somewhat bloated and slow. On a number of occasions, potentially decisive moments slide by for reasons that seem structural rather than authentic. Malone and Vitt, for example, have an opportunity to compare notes, get their conflict out into the open and resolve their differences, but they pass it up in a favor of frustration with one another.

One of the book's final revelations is particularly confusing as we discover that a key character has known an essential secret all along but has chosen not to end the danger to individuals and nations.

'The Lincoln Myth” considers an interesting 'what if,” but it doesn't wholly succeed as a compelling thriller.

Rob Cline is a writer and published author, marketing director for University of Iowa's Hancher and director of literary events for New Bo Books, a division of Prairie Lights.

Book reading

'What

: The Art Legacy League Presents an Evening with Steve Berry

'Where

: Jumer's Casino & Hotel, Rock Island, Ill.

'When

: 6:15 p.m. June 1

'Ticket information

: artlegacyleague.org