President Patricia Darden Grant stepped into the national spotlight in Congress representing the ritzy northside Chicago suburbs. Before that she was a model and actress, so she wasn’t an unknown. She was married to Andy Grant, a wealthy philanthropist. Lots of old money in his family. But infertility had them childless in their lakeshore estate.
A few terms in, the issue that catapulted Patricia to the top of the Republican ticket was abortion. Being a moderate, her stance appealed to both red and blue voters. But the far, far-right wing Republicans of the populace weren’t as enthusiastic. The wife of a TV evangelist even threatened her. Telling Grant that she’d learn what it was like to lose someone close. The Grants amped up security around them and their home. Even had anti-assault barriers sunk into the lake bed off their shoreline. Worked fine until one evening, when Patricia was in Washington, Andy was seen in their 2nd floor bedroom . Clear enough for a rocket propelled grenade fired from a boat took out the upper corner of the house. All those lakefront barriers were to guard against an assault, not a shoulder-fired grenade.
Local police, headed by Chief James McGill, and the FBI were able to convince a jury of the pastor’s wife’s guilt in the premeditated murder plan and she was convicted and imprisoned on death row. The pastor’s flock has a long memory. Not only about Patricia’s stance on abortion, but also towards Chief McGill and his chief investigator Margaret (Sweetie) Sweeney whose investigation and testimony sealed the deal.
In the months and years that followed Andy Grant’s murder,
Patricia and McGill slowly became an item and eventually married. Grant was
divorced with 3 kids ranging in age from 10 to 17. They live with their mother
in Chicago area and the kids adore Patricia. These two blended families seem to get along
quite well. Having the President in the family does have its perks.
When Patricia’s political star became transcendent, she was easily nominated and elected to be President. Much more than a pretty face. The sympathy vote didn’t hurt, either.
The nation now has ‘the first hubby’ to contend with. As a former police chief, he can’t see joining the DC social set and doing photo ops. With his wife’s OK, and the begrudging Secret Service going along, McGill sets himself up as a DC private investigator. You can bet his clientele will be well screened.
His first case is Chana Lochlan, part of the White House press corps and rising TV investigative journalist. She’s been receiving intimidating calls and notes. Not enough to involve the DC Metro police. But enough to think someone might be trying to use Chana’s White House access to get to the President.
One of the first military issues that Patricia must deal with involves an affair between USAF Colonel Carina Linberg (potentially the Air Force’s first female general) and Captain Dexter Cowan, a Naval officer in the Pentagon trying to add some stars to his shoulders. But he’s married, she's not. The case being investigated in adultery. A classic he said she said thing. A freshly minted OSI investigator, Air Force Captain Welborn Yates catches a doozy for his first case. Worrying that Pentagon brass might unduly pressure Capt Yates, President Grant has him assigned to be under her office. Pentagon ain’t happy about that.
Then there is Dr. Damon Todd. Civilian psychiatrist who seems to have worked out a way to modify personalities and manipulate his patients (subjects) to act how he pleases and remember nothing. Think of the technique as chemical hypnosis. Each ‘test’ so far is a success, some tests are even mildly humorous. Dr. Todd is trying to sell the CIA on his methods to ensure clandestine agents would effectively be immune to torture and divulge no secrets.
And if that wasn’t enough for President Grant and McGill to contend with, Cuba is acting up. And the pastor’s flock maintains a 24-hr vigil at the White House. The final straw is someone (church? Other?) threatens McGill’s children.
Flynn has a lot of balls in the air, right? And you know what? Despite the complexity of the intersecting plots, Flynn keeps everything heading towards interesting conclusions without getting all tangled up in plot details. To give all those plots the page space needed, this book is long, but not once did I even pay attention how much was left in the book. Sign of a seasoned writer.
But somehow, I ended with this book on my Kindle, so I assumed it was a recent release. Au contraire. When I bothered to look, I was surprised to see this has a 2009 copyright and is the first (of 13) James McGill books. One per year and has maybe a half dozen titles prior to this book. Glad I stumbled onto this at book 1. Now I just must find more of these. A couple other Joseph Flynn books have been favorably reviewed here. I really liked this book and bet the series will be a ton of fun.
East Coast Don
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