Steve Berry on THE PARIS VENDETTA

In 2005, when I decided to create Cotton Malone in The Templar Legacy, I struggled with the challenge of predictability. Creating a fictional world and a cast of characters, fleshing them out over the course of many novels, came with the fear that readers will eventually place you in the category of a Disney movie ----- no matter what happens, everything will always be okay ---- the series shall continue. So far, Cotton has experienced 4 adventures. The Templar Legacy, The Alexandria Link, The Venetian Betrayal, and The Charlemagne Pursuit. The Paris Vendetta is his fifth. With this new story, I decided to turn his world on it's ear. Just as in real life where nothing ever stays the same, nothing is going to stay the same from Cotton either. I want the reader to lose that comfort level. In fact, there's no telling what may happen --- certainly what the reader will least expect. Is this risky? You bet. Is it exciting? Oh, yeah. The next four books will be exciting. It'll be interesting to see if readers agree with this course. It's certainly making the writing fun. One thing I know for sure: no one will be able to call a Steve Berry novel predictable.