A provocative thriller for fans of Dan Brown and David Baldacci, from the top-ten New York Times bestselling author.The 16th Amendment to the Constitution legalized federal income tax, but what if there were problems with the 1913 ratification of that amendment? Problems that call into question decades of tax collecting, and could even bring down the US economy. There is a surprising truth to this possibility - a truth wholly entertained by Steve Berry in this fast-paced thriller.His protagonist, Cotton Malone, once a member of an elite intelligence division within the Justice Department known as the Magellan Billet, is now retired. But when his former-boss, Stephanie Nelle, asks him to track a rogue North Korean who may have acquired some top secret Treasury Department files - the kind that could bring the United States to its knees. Malone is vaulted into a harrowing twenty-four-hour chase that begins on the water in Venice and ends in the remote highlands of Croatia.With appearances by Franklin Roosevelt, Andrew Mellon, and a curious painting that still hangs in the National Gallery of Art, Steve Berry's trademark mix of history and suspense is 90% fact and 10% exciting speculation.

Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of 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. His books have been translated into 40 languages with 17,000,000 copies in 51 countries.History lies at the heart of every Steve Berry novel. It's his passion, one he shares with his wife, Elizabeth, which led them to create History Matters, a foundation dedicated to historic preservation. Since 2009 Steve and Elizabeth have crossed the country to save endangered historic treasures, raising money via lectures, receptions, galas, luncheons, dinners and their popular writers' workshops. To date, nearly 2,500 students have attended those workshops. In 2012 their work was recognized by the American Library Association, which named Steve the first spokesman for National Preservation Week. He was also appointed by the Smithsonian Board of Regents to serve on the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board to help promote and support the libraries in their mission to provide information in all forms to scientists, curators, scholars, students and the public at large. He has received the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award; the 2013 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award; his novel The Columbus Affair earned him the Anne Frank Human Writes Award; and International Thriller Writers bestowed him the 2013 Silver Bullet for his work with historic preservation. Steve was born and raised in Georgia, graduating from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University. He was a trial lawyer for 30 years and held elective office for 14 of those years. He is a founding member of International Thriller Writers - a group of more than 2,600 thriller writers from around the world - and served for three years as its co-president. For more information,