The jefferson key by steve berry

1. The Jefferson Key by Steve Berry
Reviewed by Allen Hott
From deep in American history to the present day in
Washington, there is one constant. Strangely enough that
constant is not a part of our government but is actually an arm
of the government that was created by our Founding Fathers.
The group called the Commonwealth was in fact given a Letter
of Marque by George Washington. The letter that is granted in perpetuity to any
and all heirs does in fact give the Commonwealth the license and authority “to
subdue, seize, and take all property and wealth of any and all enemies of the
United States of America.” At the time it was given it did in fact make the group
pirates! For doing these acts the Commonwealth was to be paid twenty percent
of the value of the seizures. And to this day the descendants of the four original
captains are in fact still endowed with this privilege. That is the basis for the
fictional The Jefferson Key!
Making the matter worse during his presidency Andrew Jackson had torn the
pages authorizing the letter of Marque from the House and Senate journals. He
hid them and used a code developed by Thomas Jefferson to describe where
they were hidden. Jackson wanted the Commonwealth disbanded. Without the
documents, the Commonwealth could not exist legally but the government also
could not rebuke the authorization. Not surprising they did exist on the sly.
Rather than acts of piracy they gave assistance in establishing governments
around the world who favor the United States but doing it secretly so the U.S.
wasn’t involved. Or perhaps taking out someone unfriendly to the United States
without having a war start or the U.S. blamed.
And now in today’s world few in Washington acknowledge the Commonwealth
and recently two of their four leaders have been notified that they are targets of

2. federal criminal investigations relating to among other things offshore money
deposits upon which no taxes have been paid.
While the Commonwealth tries to get the missing documents the many, many
agencies involved in governing the U.S. are battling to avoid extinction. The
incumbent President is about to go out of office and he is on record as to
downsizing the government. (Hooray!) Thus all agencies want the
Commonwealth either on their side or out of the picture all together.
Cotton Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt, a former Justice Department operative and
his companion, are called to supposedly help the head of the Magellan Billet.
Once those two arrive in New York it seems that everything explodes between
several feuding agencies and the leaders of the Commonwealth.
Not only is there trouble in North Carolina where the Commonwealth is
headquartered but also there is much havoc in Canada where the coded
message in the Jefferson Key has seemingly finally been solved.
Many, many, plots and subplots with twists and turns that continue to spur the
reader on to figure out how all of this will end. Steve Berry has put together an
interesting tale that points more fingers at our government and its never-
ending growth.