An intense political thriller that should attract House of Cards fans waiting for the next season.
In this tale of politics and betrayal, a Secret Service agent must do everything within his power to protect the president of the United States from forces that are conspiring to destroy him.
President Thomas Walters finds himself backed into a corner by an aggressive and ambitious U.S. senator from New Jersey, Tyler Rumson, who is armed with blackmail that would ruin the head of state’s life. So Walters decides to end it all, abruptly throwing Vice President David Kendall into the highest job in the land with the added responsibility of guiding a nation that is mourning a fallen leader. As his vice president, President Kendall chooses Rumson, unaware of the senator’s major role in his predecessor’s demise. Kendall also doesn’t know that Rumson is willing to do whatever it takes to push this final obstacle to the presidency out of his way. Meanwhile, Secret Service agent Matthew Richter is tortured by what he witnessed the day Walters died and can’t stop wondering if there was anything he could have done to save him. When Rumson and a few carefully chosen allies orchestrate a disaster designed to take President Kendall down, Richter finds himself with a second chance to save the commander in chief—but it will take all of his intelligence, bravery, and fortitude to survive the dangerous road ahead. Beyer packs his debut novel with just enough information about Washington, D.C., and its various institutions’ dueling agendas to make his wild tale feel grounded in reality without being weighed down by minutiae. Richter and Kendall are both noble, likable heroes, while Rumson is a deliciously evil villain in the mold of Frank Underwood of House of Cards. There is also a diverse cast of supporting characters, including two 20-something backpackers who find themselves tangled up in the fate of the president, that should keep the reader engaged in the human side of the story even as the plot gets dangerously close to flying off the rails. Richter is set to return in a second installment.
An intense political thriller that should attract House of Cards fans waiting for the next season.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9963857-0-1
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Old Stone Mill Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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