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President
Matt Keating was a Navy Seal, a Congressman from Texas, and Vice
President before he ascended to the presidency, and he means to protect
America.
So
Keating orders a drone strike on vicious Libyan terrorist Asim
Al-Asheed, who captured and crucified a Navy Seal and slaughtered women
and children in cold blood.
The
attack misses Asim but kills Asim's wife and two daughters. Keating is
appalled by the death of innocents and goes on TV to apologize.
Given
the mood of the country this is a bad idea, and Matt's disloyal Vice
President, Pamela Barnes, challenges him in the next election and wins.
Matt
is now living in a wooded retreat in New Hampshire, his wife Samantha -
an archaeologist - is supervising an important dig in Maine.....
......and the Keatings' 19-year-old daughter Mel is a student at Dartmouth College.
Mel
is too old for Secret Service protection, and when Agent David Stahl -
who's in charge of Matt's Secret Service detail - tries to safeguard Mel
with trainees, the Barnes administration makes him stop.
This
is unfortunate because Asim Al-Asheed, who's furious about the death of
his wife and daughters, has been planning his revenge for years.
Thus when Mel is hiking in New Hampshire's White Mountains with her boyfriend Tim, Asim kills Tim and kidnaps Mel.
Asim
makes demands, but President Pamela Barnes, under advisement from her
machiavellian Chief of Staff Richard Barnes, who's also her
husband......
.......doesn't take the steps Matt expects her to.
In
the meantime, China sees Mel's abduction as an opportunity. The United
States has been putting pressure on China by filing lawsuits over
copyrights and patents, complaining to the World Trade Organization, and
running ships and planes near Chinese bases in the South China Sea.
Chinese officials want to improve relations with America......
......and
order their agent in Libya, Jiang Lijun, to make a deal with Asim
Al-Asheed and rescue Mel. However Jiang blames America for the death of
his father, and engineers plans of his own.
When
President Pamela Barnes drags her feet over meeting the terrorists'
demands, Matt reaches out to his friends in Saudi intelligence and
Mossad, who agree to help search for Mel.
Matt then launches a secret rescue operation of his own.....
.....which
is discovered by Pamela. The president is vexed, fearing a heroic Matt
would vastly outshine her, and she's willing to do almost anything to
stop him.
Meanwhile,
Mel is in the clutches of Asim Al-Asheed and his cousin, but she's not
the shrinking violet they expect. When Matt became president, the Secret
Service told Mel what to do if she was kidnapped, and these directions -
along with Mel's innate smarts, nerve and bravery - serve her well.
Not
everything in this book is as it seems, and Matt's side has some nifty
moves of its own, with planes, helicopters, satellite images, drones,
weapons, a certain thumb drive, sheer nerve, and more.
The story is told from the rotating points of view of the major characters, and zips along at a steady pace.
My
major quibbles with the novel are the stereotypical characterizations
of the wicked foreigners, and the depiction of President Pamela Barnes -
who lets her pugnacious husband Richard call the shots.
A male president would NEVER be portrayed as following directions from his wife.
That aside this is excellent escapist literature, an exciting page-turner that would appeal to fans of thrillers.
Rating: 4 stars
Wow, lots going on here. My friend gave me this book awhile ago and it is sitting upstairs on my bookshelf. I could use some escapism. Great review Barb.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carla. Hope you enjoy the book. 🙂🍁🌷
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