The Medici Return

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars | 5 ratings

Price: 21.83

Last update: 02-12-2025


About this item

From celebrated New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry comes the latest installment in his wildly popular Cotton Malone series—an adventure that takes Cotton to Italy to solve a five hundred year-old mystery.

Cotton Malone is on the hunt for a forgotten 16th century Pledge of Christ—a sworn promise made by Pope Julius II that evidences a monetary debt owed by the Vatican, still valid after five centuries—now worth in the trillions of dollars. But collecting that debt centers around what happened to the famed Medici of Florence—a family that history says died out, without heirs, centuries ago.

Who will become the next prime minister of Italy, and who will be the next pope? Finding answers proves difficult until Cotton realizes that everything hinges on when, and if, the Medici return.


Top reviews from the United States

  • WendiReviews
    5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular story!
    Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2025
    This review is for both the audio presentation and the book. Scott Brick does an incredible job
    with all of the accented content, and his emotion throughout makes the story even more alive.
    He truly is the constant voice of Cotton Malone!
    Kudos to the Author for finding graceful ways to age Cotton with interesting and challenging
    missions. It’s a little important to readers that he age but still be able to get into the occasional
    sticky situation, which is accomplished in this book with the horse racing scenes.
    This book relied a lot on the historical scenes. These are interesting as well as educational.
    While I count on the Author to raise my curiosity, it’s a fine line, which is perfect.
    I adore the longstanding relationship Cotton enjoys with Stephanie, and it’s nice
    that she still asks him for favors. (Again, nicely done as they both age gracefully.)
    The most interesting scenes are focused on the legitimacy of AnnaMarie and
    Rafael… were they… or were they not…

    This continuing collaboration between the amazingly talented Steve Berry
    and the incredible Scott Brick is likely responsible for several generations
    of folks newly drawn to wonderful historical sites and stories.
    This is a review of the audiobook.
  • lclarke1
    3.0 out of 5 stars okay
    Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2025
    I have been a fan of the Cotton Malone series for a long time and in fact have enjoyed all of the books in the series but this one I had a hard time with.

    In typical Cotton fashion he finds himself doing a task for his friend Stephanie Nell but not all turns out as expected - like every other time he is in this position. With what was supposed to be a simple take turns into quite the adventure and mystery that one can only expect Cotton to be in the middle of and that is before we discuss that this is yet another Vatican heavy mystery that only he can solve.

    Yes, this book was full of the typical history mixed with fiction that one can expect in Mr. Berry's stories but this time I had a hard time staying invested in the tale. It felt reminiscent of the Malta Exchange and some of the points of the mystery were a bit hard to believe but that is just me. It was the typical action packed read and while I did enjoy the story I just had a hard time staying invested.

    Overall, this is just an okay read for me but I would still recommend it to others.
  • Steven White
    4.0 out of 5 stars Decent entry in a good series
    Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2025
    Thanks to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for a pre-release copy of The Medici Return by Steve Berry. Below is my honest review.

    It's wild how active Cotton Malone is for a man his age. Oh wait, I can't recall his exact age because he seems to be stuck in his late 40s/early 50s! lol

    Anyways, on to the good stuff. The Medici Return was one of those "gotta prove there is a legitimate heir" kind of treasure hunt book, and I enjoyed that aspect of it. I also really enjoyed learning more about the Medicis and the history of a lot of regions of Italy.

    I do think one or two of the twists were pretty predictable, sadly, and I wasn't a fan of the bad guy. He felt very... stock villain-adjacent? Either way, the journey itself was a romp through Italy and even included a horse race!

    Overall, four stars. Still a great series, just not my favorite of the bunch. Recommended for fans of history and thrillers, Dan Brown fans, etc... but be warned, this is book 19. There's some character history here that you're missing if you start here.
  • Joanie
    5.0 out of 5 stars action packed
    Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2025
    Does the Pledge of Christ from centuries ago really exist...That is what Cotton Malone has to figure out after being sent by his former boss to assist the Vatican in a secret matter that goes terribly wrong. During the assignment Cotton further learns that there are many members of the Vatican that cannot be trusted as they will lie, cheat, steal and even have murder committed to get what they want. That is not a good look for the church, and so many others will cover it up. Cotton, with the help of a trusted few from the church, will expose the main one committing these terrible acts and see that the Pope is made aware and that this person is stopped permanently. Along the way this book adds lots of real history from centuries ago as well as some very interesting not true elements that add very well to the over all book.
    (Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy)

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