The patriot threat

'The only two certainties in life are death and taxes.' Mark TwainWhat if all it took to bring the United States to its knees was one legal error in the ratification of the 16th Amendment over a century ago? Money is power and the problem could mean that the federal government has never been entitled to the billions of dollars of income tax it has been collecting.It's not the kind of information the Treasury Department would want to fall into the hands of a rogue North Korean. And when it does, Stephanie Nelle, head of the elite intelligence division within the Justice Department, wants only one man to track him down: Cotton Malone. Dragged out of retirement, Cotton is launched into a harrowing chase that begins in Venice and ends in the remote highlands of Croatia - with the world economy at stake. Only death and taxes are certain? Maybe not.Biographie de l'auteurSteve 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 thrill