When the former US president asks Cotton Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt to do research to support his candidate of choice in the German national election, Cotton has no problem diving right in. From Germany to South America to South Africa to Switzerland, Cotton and Cassiopeia chase down the clues that will help the former president’s preferred candidate have the information she needs to defeat her opponent.

Mr. Berry seems fixated on lecturing on the political right vs left in this latest effort. His desire to paint anyone right of centre as some kind of monster and anyone left of centre as a hero takes away from his usual great storytelling. There is no nuance…the characters on each side are just good or bad. It made the story flat in areas and some of the characters one-dimensional. It seemed like Mr. Berry was trying to make a point rather than tell a good tale this time around.

While I’ve been a Cotton Malone fan for many, many years, I have to admit The Kaiser’s Web was a letdown for me in many ways.

3 stars