"The 14th colony" de Steve Berry

Shot down over Siberia in what was to be a simple meet-and-greet-mission, ex-Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is forced into a fight for survival against Aleksandr Zorin, whose loyalty to the former Soviet Union has festered for decades into an intense hatred of the United States.
Before escaping, Malone learns that Zorin and another ex-KGB officer, this one a sleeper still imbedded in the West, are headed overseas to Washington D.C. Inauguration Day-noon on January 20th-is only hours away. A flaw in the Constitution, and an even more flawed presidential succession act, have opened the door to political chaos and Zorin intends to exploit both weaknesses to their fullest.

Armed with a weapon leftover from the Cold War, one long thought to be just a myth, Zorin plans to attack. He's aided by a shocking secret hidden in the archives of America's oldest fraternal organization-the Society of Cincinnati-a group that once lent out its military savvy to presidents, including helping to formulate three covert invasion plans of Canada.

In a race against the clock that starts in the frozen extremes of Russia and ultimately ends at the White House itself, Malone must not only battle Zorin, he must also confront his deepest fear, a crippling weakness that he's long denied but one that now jeopardizes everything. Steve Berry's trademark mix of fact, fiction, history and speculation, is all here, front and center, in this provocative new thriller.

Fiel a mi cita anual con Steve Berry (no sé cómo lo hace pero todos los años saca nuevo libro de esta saga), he tardado un poco más de lo habitual en leerlo pero por motivos ajenos al libro.

Como siempre, Steve mezcla datos históricos con ficción, de tal forma que realmente parece que todo lo que cuentan en el libro sucedió en la vida real. Menos mal que al final incluye un epílogo en el que detalla que parte es real y qué es ficticio.

En este libro, además, juega con una parte de la historia que no nos queda tan lejos: la Guerra Fría, la caída de la Unión Soviética, las posibles causas y las consecuencias reales, etc. Y siendo así no podían faltar los agentes del KGB, maletines secretos, bombas, y una persecución e investigación a contrarreloj, que junta al Jack Ryan de los libros de Tom Clancy con el Jack Bauer de la serie 24.

En resumen, me he vuelto a enamorar de la saga protagonizada por Cotton Malone, de la que este es el libro número 11.