Rating: 
Summary: A TENSE THRILLER THAT KEEPS LISTENERS ENTHRALLED.
Review: A veteran of over 100 television film and series episodes voice performer John Rubinstein gives an appropriately suspenseful reading to this tale of intrigue in our country's highest offices. Popular protagonist Major Sean Drummond returns in Haig's latest epic. This time out he's charged with the defense of Brigadier General William T. Morrison. It's a case of treason and Drummond really doesn't want to face the Army's toughest prosecutor. However, Morrison wants him, and so does his CIA wife, Mary, who was once close, quite close to Drummond. But wait a minute, he thought he was fighting a charge of treason, maybe perjury, but it turns out to be murder. As if that weren't enough of a surprise his co-counsel is Katrina Mazorski, she of the skin tight black leather pants and jewelry bedecked navel. Warning: no one should be fooled by her appearance. Between the two of them they unearth enough secrets to jar both Washington and Moscow. Someone is manipulating them - who and why? Haig has created a tense thriller that'll keep listeners enthralled. - Gail Cooke
Rating: 
Summary: Good Legal Thriller
Review: Brian Haig is one of my must read authors. All of his books have been exciting military legal thrillers and "The Kingmaker" is no exception. I highly recommend this book and look forward to Mr. Haig's next book.
Rating:
Summary: Wiseguy vs. Golden Boy
Review: Brigadier General Thomas Morrison is not only arrogant and "pathologically ambitious", he cheats on his wife Mary who is today's version of Grace Kelly. Mary was also Sean Drummond's college lover and has a high level CIA job. So when her jerk of a husband is accused of spying for the Russians, all evidence points to his guilt and Mary wants Drummond to defend him, it may not make sense but you know sparks will fly. Drummond needs a Russian speaking co-counsel and finds Katrina Mazorski, the 29-year-old daughter of Chechen and Russian parents who is smart, stunning and still into body piercing. Katrina and ex-sergeant Imelda Pepperfield, Sean's regular investigator, team up to provide the appropriate balance to Sean's incessant wiseguy banter. Mary's father Homer Steele and political operator Milton Martin are both early candidates for Daddy Warbucks. Martin is depicted as an Assistant Secretary of State in the years when Clinton was President but roomed with the future President as an undergraduate at Yale when George W. was there. Go figure. When General Jerk worked for Martin, he cultivated Alexi Arbatov, the #2 man in Russia's SIA, as a US resource. Sean goes to Russia to chat with Arbatov and the action begins. Sean and Katrina survive three professional assassination attempts, one where Sean takes out a knife-wielding killer with his Bic pen, which he calmly wipes off and puts back in his pocket. Despite these ridiculous made for the movie scenes, Haig lets his readers poonder various ways the story might play out keeping good guys and bad jumbled together right to the end. When the "Kingmaker" is ultimately found out, however, he decides to explain all to Sean in a sequence that's even more unrealistic than the action scenes. In the final climax Sean gets beaten up a few more times, of course, but this time Haig actually comes up with a plot line that will shut his hero's smart mouth up for a while. Sean Drummond is a great character and this is the third time Haig has build an entertaining action story around him. The ending, however, was a little weak. As every powerful and Machiavellian faction, good and bad, scrambles to cover its tracks, there's no reasonable way Sean Drummond should ever survive or resurface - except, of course, to be around for the 4th installment of Haig's series.
Rating:
Summary: Wiseguy vs. Golden Boy
Review: Brigadier General Thomas Morrison is not only arrogant and "pathologically ambitious", he cheats on his wife Mary who is today's version of Grace Kelly. Mary was also Sean Drummond's college lover and has a high level CIA job. So when her jerk of a husband is accused of spying for the Russians, all evidence points to his guilt and Mary wants Drummond to defend him, it may not make sense but you know sparks will fly. Drummond needs a Russian speaking co-counsel and finds Katrina Mazorski, the 29-year-old daughter of Chechen and Russian parents who is smart, stunning and still into body piercing. Katrina and ex-sergeant Imelda Pepperfield, Sean's regular investigator, team up to provide the appropriate balance to Sean's incessant wiseguy banter. Mary's father Homer Steele and political operator Milton Martin are both early candidates for Daddy Warbucks. Martin is depicted as an Assistant Secretary of State in the years when Clinton was President but roomed with the future President as an undergraduate at Yale when George W. was there. Go figure. When General Jerk worked for Martin, he cultivated Alexi Arbatov, the #2 man in Russia's SIA, as a US resource. Sean goes to Russia to chat with Arbatov and the action begins. Sean and Katrina survive three professional assassination attempts, one where Sean takes out a knife-wielding killer with his Bic pen, which he calmly wipes off and puts back in his pocket. Despite these ridiculous made for the movie scenes, Haig lets his readers poonder various ways the story might play out keeping good guys and bad jumbled together right to the end. When the "Kingmaker" is ultimately found out, however, he decides to explain all to Sean in a sequence that's even more unrealistic than the action scenes. In the final climax Sean gets beaten up a few more times, of course, but this time Haig actually comes up with a plot line that will shut his hero's smart mouth up for a while. Sean Drummond is a great character and this is the third time Haig has build an entertaining action story around him. The ending, however, was a little weak. As every powerful and Machiavellian faction, good and bad, scrambles to cover its tracks, there's no reasonable way Sean Drummond should ever survive or resurface - except, of course, to be around for the 4th installment of Haig's series.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding mix of Humor and Tension
Review: By far, this is the best book that Brian Haig has written. His ability to start a book with humor had me laughing out loud. The ability of mixing humor and tension later in the book was wonderful.
The book begins by telling you that Sean Drummond has again been given another legal case. From there to the time that he picks his assistant will keep any reader from putting this book down. He has already held the reader in his grips when he describes his assistant Katrina.
I expect to see Nicholas Cage playing the part of Sean Drummond. If he does, I can just imagine the previous books also being made into movies.
Recommendation: Read the book before the movie comes out.
Reading time: four days, as this is a very quickly moving book.
Thanks. cb.
Rating:
Summary: A Case of High Treason and Massive Cover-Ups
Review: By now many readers have become happily acquainted with the style of Major Sean Drummond's amusingly sarcastic personality. In The Kingmaker, Brian Haig's third book, circumstances affect Major Drummond in such a way that his attitude becomes occasionally more caustic than normal. This time around, our beloved JAG officer is asked to defend a man accused of treason - not just any treason, however, but the worst case against the United States government to date. To make matters more difficult, treason is not the only charge against him. The overzealous prosecutor has also added such things as adultery, perjury and murder. Major Drummond has a hard road ahead of him, and not just in defending someone that seems to have no possible defense, but also due to the fact that he despises his client. Brigadier General William Morrison is married to the one woman Drummond has always wanted to spend his life with...the one that got away. Morrison has been a thorn in Drummond's side for years, and now he's stuck trying to prove his innocence when helping him is the last thing he truly wants to do. The clouds eventually open up, though, and a ray of possibility shines through. If Drummond can find the man known as "The Kingmaker," he can possibly find the truth behind the accusations against Morrison. With the help of his Russian-speaking, leather-wearing co-counsel, Katrina Mazorski, and the ever-present legal assistant Sergeant First Class Imelda Pepperfield, he might just be able to beat the odds. Brian Haig has developed a character that is likeable and laughable at the same time that he is being brash and brilliant, which gives life to the books rather than making them just dry, legal tomes. One of the best aspects of these novels is that they can each stand alone. While Sean Drummond, Imelda Pepperfield and some of the other characters surrounding his career are present in each volume, there is not a thread connecting them in such a way that the reader must follow them in order. In fact, Brian Haig even takes the time to explain Drummond's "black unit" background in all three. In this way, one isn't left guessing as to how exactly he got where he was, yet he doesn't approach it in such a way that makes a Drummond "follower" feel as though it is redundant.
Rating:
Summary: a remarkable thriller
Review: Each time out, Brian Haig gets more accomplished as a writer of thrillers. In Sean Drummond he has created an engaging protagonist worthy of the complex and timely plots he constructs. JAG lawyer Drummond has so far travelled from the the atrocity-scarred Balkans to the turmoil of the Korean peninsula and now, in The Kingmaker, to the chaos of the Russian Federation to find the truth behind the allegations of treason levelled against his latest client, who just happens to be a former Academy classmate. An altogether thrilling ride, with some remarkable insights into who actually controls the political landscape of present day Russia.
Rating:
Summary: A great way to kill a few hours
Review: I listened to an abridged version of this book on cassette tape while on a road trip. Unlike another book on tape I tried on that trip, the person who read The Kingmaker was easy to understand. The reader also did a competent job of creating the voices of the different characters. I chose the book because it was the only one in the display at Cracker Barrel that was at least 6 hours long and did not have a listener warning about language and content. (The other one was a Nancy Drew mystery of only 3 hours). I thought this was a good book but not a great book. I found the characters and plot interesting and occasionally laughed at the humor. I appreciated the main character's ability to defend his client and to keep from getting killed. I also liked that the author kept the plot moving and mostly used amusing similes. I especially liked that the author kept the language and violence down to around a PG13 level. I didn't think the book was great, because nothing about it really blew me away. But I did enjoy it, and I can recommend it to anyone who needs to kill a few hours.
Rating:
Summary: It's funny.
Review: In addition to being a great thriller, this book is quite humerous in places. And it is really well written, unlike so many thrillers. A great read. The entire book is written from the point of view of Drummond. I always find that first-person thrillers and mysteries are better than the others.
Rating: 
Summary: If You Like Sarcastic Whiners as Protagonists
Review: Major Sean Drummond describes himself on page 92 as "...whining complainers like me." The book is written in first person singular, and you can tell why Major Drummond is single from his complaining. If you see humor in Drummond's attitude you'll possibly enjoy the book. I found the writing style tedious, the plot torpid, and finished the book only because a friend recommended Brian Haig. I don't. I wouldn't put Haig in Daniel Silva's, Michael Connelly's, or John Grisham's league, but they are listed as "Customers who bought this book also bought ..." I can vouch for Silva's merit as a writer of top-notch thrillers.
| 
