The Inner Circle: The Culper Ring Trilogy 1 (Culper Ring, #1)

by Brad Meltzer

The darkest secret of the U.S. Presidency is about to be revealed. Beecher White, a young archivist for the US government, has always been the keeper of other people's stories, never a part of the story himself ...Until now. While Beecher is showing Clementine Kaye, his first childhood crush, around the National Archives, they accidentally uncover a priceless artefact - a two-hundred-year-old dictionary once belonging to George Washington. Suddenly Beecher and Clementine are entangled in a web of conspiracy and murder. Beecher's race to learn the truth behind this mysterious treasure will lead to a code that conceals a disturbing secret from the nation's founding. A secret that some believe is worth killing for.

• ISBN10: 0340840145
• ISBN13: 9780340840146
• Publish Date: 3 March 2011 (first published 1 January 2003)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 29 May 2012
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

I have greatly enjoyed some of Meltzer's other books but this one just didn't quite make the cut for me. The book starts out with a good interest-grabber that makes you turn the pages. But soon it begins to feel sluggish and overhyped, as if each character has a new secret to reveal and scenarios leaving much to be desired.

[kimbacaffeinate]

Beecher White is an archivist at the National Archives in Washington D.C.While trying to impress an old high school flame with a tour of the National Archives, he finds himself at the center of a Presidential level conspiracy. While giving Clementine the tour, along with Orlando his friend at the Archives, they find a book by George Washington himself, right before the president is scheduled to be in this private chamber. Immediately after finding it, his friend dies. Thus begins, a series of events, clues and conspiracy theories, that will have you wondering who is friend and who is foe. Do not expect to get to know Beecher or any of the other characters, as this book is completely plot driven, I would not quote any of the history in this book as fact either. I enjoyed this fast paced, action backed thriller.