The Devils' Due

Cotton Malone #12.5

by Steve Berry

Experience a heart-pumping and thrilling tale of suspense!

Originally published in THRILLER (2006),edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson.

In this alternative-history-with-a-twist Thriller Short, New York Times bestselling writer Steve Berry explores one of Cotton Malone’s early missions, from a time when Malone was still employed as one of the Magellan Billet’s twelve agents. Malone is sent on a mission to a small, central Asian country run by an enigmatic dictator, Yossef Sharma, whose alliance with the United States must be kept under wraps. It’s not a mission Malone enjoys, since Sharma has a penchant for burning books. Things get even more interesting when Sharma connects Malone with the world’s most infamous criminal, a man who wants to surrender. Things are not always what they seem, and Malone will need Sharma’s help if he plans to set things right and give the devil his due.

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Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Short Stories, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Mystery Thriller

22 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2017

About the author

 

Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of twenty-two novels, which include: The Last Kingdom , The Omega Factor , The Kaiser's Web, The Warsaw Protocol, The Malta Exchange, The Bishop’s Pawn, The Lost Order, The 14th Colony, The Patriot Threat, The Lincoln Myth, The King's Deception, The Columbus Affair, The Jefferson Key, The Emperor's Tomb, The Paris Vendetta, The Charlemagne Pursuit, The Venetian Betrayal, The Alexandria Link, The Templar Legacy, The Third Secret, The Romanov Prophecy, and The Amber Room. Steve has also co-written a novel with Grant Blackwood,  The 9th Man  (a Luke Daniels Adventure), and four novellas with M. J. Rose:  The End of Forever,   The House of Long Ago,   The Lake of Learning,  and  The Museum of Mysteries,  all Cassiopeia Vitt tales. His books have been translated into 41 languages with over 25,000,000 copies in 52 countries. They consistently appear in the top echelon of The New York Times, USA Today, and Indie bestseller lists. Somewhere in the world, every thirty seconds, one of his novels is sold.

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dunno how to feel about this one.

[Pierre Tassé (Enjoying Books) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the shortest short story I've read. No substance.

[Stacey B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever how Berry wrote a 23 page story. A quick one including "Cotton Malone" .

[Skip · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate super short stories (23 pages), even with a protagonist as compelling as Cotton Malone. I feel cheated not to have a story with depth. In this chapter of Cotton's life, he receives two gifts from a despot, who runs a small country: one is a prized book (saved from a nationwide bookburning) and the other is an invitation to meet an UNSUB (unknown subject.) The UNSUB has an agenda, for which he asks for trustworthy Cotton's assistance, but things go very badly awry.

[John (Just bought an Oculus 2 VR, so less time to read these days!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for alternative history

Alternative history for the recent Middle East conflicts. Very well done. Can’t say much more without accidentally revealing spoilers. Recommended.

[Jay Fusco · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story involving the early career of Cotton Malone. It was well done as always with an interesting concept and a slick twist. Very well done.

[itchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

damn right

400 pages;
one of the mistakes i wanted to correct so i tried signing up as a librarian

p11: but malone had been invited, so he stepped out into the brisk thin air and stuffed his billet-issue glock into a shoulder harness beneath his jacket.
at the end of my copy of the templar legacy is a dossier on malone that distinctly said that his billet-issued firearm was a beretta

[Sevim Tezel Aydın · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too short and weird. I didn’t like it.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unless this is the prelude to a new book, not sure what the point of this story is.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little moral quandry - what to do when you want something but then the devil agrees with you?

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in THRILLER (2006),edited by James Patterson. This is an alternative history short - easy and quick to read.

[William Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting short story with one of my favorite characters Cotton Malone.

[David Schwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cotton Malone finds himself in an unnamed Asian country to take care of a request by that country's leader. The whole situation looks fishy, and Cotton comes up with a unique solution to his dilemma.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good but a short short story.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cotton Malone - always doing the right thing!!!

In this alternative-history-with-a-twist Thriller Short, New York Times bestselling writer Steve Berry explores one of Cotton Malone's early missions, from a time when Malone was still employed as one of the Magellan Billet's twelve agents. Malone is sent on a mission to a small, central Asian country run by an enigmatic dictator, Yossef Sharma, whose alliance with the United States must be kept under wraps. It's not a mission Malone enjoys, since Sharma has a penchant for burning books. Things get even more interesting when Sharma connects Malone with the world's most infamous criminal, a man who wants to surrender. Things are not always what they seem, and Malone will need Sharma's help if he plans to set things right and give the devil his due.

[Carol Mcgrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent short story.

The story begins somewhere in Asia with Sharma, the President, ordered all the books be turned in to be burned. Me personally won't even dog-ear a page in a book, so having all the books burned wss upsetting. However, I digress. Saharan gave a book to Malone to go to the ruins the next day. When he got there bin Laden was waiting for him. He was going to surrender into Cotton. Cotton made arrangements and sent back to get him the next day. He turned him over to the US Military. Months later he was wondering why the U S never announced his capture. He went back to Asia to find out what happened. This is all I'm going to say. .The book us 24 pages long. You'll enjoy it.

[dennis barron · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Devil's Due. Steve Berry

Cotton Malone an agent in The Magellan Billet. He is in a small Asian country, whose leader, known to only a few highly placed politician's is a friend of America. He presents Cotton with two gifts. A prized edition of Canterbury Tales and Osama Bin Laden, who will only surrender to Cotton. This is highly entertaining novella which I thoroughly enjoyed!

[Ursula Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devil's Due Indeed, Thrilling Short

This was a great killer short from Steve Berry. I'm new to this author and am sampling a few of his shorts to learn about his style. This was an excellent, taught thriller. I like the writing style, a bit of history thrown in and enough information to allow you to enjoy the story. I did enjoy this and the devils deserve their due. Now I will have to read a Cotton Malone book.

[Mike Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short story about Cotton Malone and his encounter with the most wanted man in the world. I don’t usually care for these short stories, but read them because they are part of a series. This one was actually pretty good. It had some nice twists and turns. Overall it was a quick interesting read. If you like the Cotton Malone series, you will enjoy this short story.

[Kyle Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun, quick little read that will take 20-30 minutes to finish that I enjoyed. It was straight to the point so the story has to move quickly but I found it to be a nice read. I had never heard of this before because it is not part of the Cotton Malone book series but I am glad I stumbled across it and got to know just a little bit more about Cotton Malone. Give it a try.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Steve Berry's books. I like how they twist and turn and keep you guessing. The history that is included gets me looking things up. I did like this book, and I didn't like it. I didn't like it because I think I like the challenges that Berry always seems to include and this one was over too quick. So it was as good, but I missed the fun of following the clues he always presents.....

[Vickie Wielgosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick and masterful read

As always Steve Berry immersed me in his story telling from the very beginning. Steve's artful way of mixing fact and fiction is masterful. His in-depth knowledge and research allows him to draw me into the world he created from the 1st page. He always leaves me wanting more.

[Jessi Bone · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Devil's Due

Great Short story about Malone's early years well worth the money and time to read it. I find Steve Berry books enlightening and non stop thrill with enough historical fact to make you want to learn more about the history behind the story

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story that puts Cotton Malone in the middle of Osama Bin Laden’s capture and assassination from his days in the Magellan Bilet. A bit more far-fetched than usual for this series, but I always enjoy Malone the character.

[Cyndy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this short, which is included in Thriller: Stories To Keep You Up All Night. Interesting theory and totally believable.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprising

It's a good thing that I had no preconceived notions of where this story might go -- because where it did wouldn't have been in any list I might have made. Good job and quite enjoyable.

[Karel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Short Novella

Steve Berry is an awesome author. He writes very well and his characters are interesting and full-blown. While this is a novella, he uses his usual historical basis making the books he writes very realistic. I highly recommend this novella and all his books.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I like to referent as an in-between novelette, this short story featuring Cotton Malone, the star of Berry's brilliant series, is as fulfilling and as packed as Berry's full length novels. This throwback to Cotton's early days offers an alternate look at bin Laden's fate.

[NextBoat · Rating 2 out of 5]

teaser only

I don’t care for teasers. Too short, and not enough intrigue to draw me to a follow up story.
But my appreciation for Berry’s other works will keep me on the lookout for a sequel.