Rating: 
Summary: A balance of action, adventure, mystery, and intrigue.
Review: Jack Flynn is a newshound for the Boston Record who suddenly gets a call from the President of the United States, wanting him to play golf. While at the Congressional Country Club playing golf with Clayton Hutchins, President, there is an assassination attempt that takes this story from dull to frightening to exciting in about 3 pages. With the country poised for a new election, the assassination attempt can only help President Hutchins gain national media coverage and encourage the sympathy vote. While attempting to gather information on a certain presidential pardon, Jack Flynn is thrust into areas he never thought he would be involved in, and the name of the game is that nothing is as it seems to be, no one is who they say they are, and no situation is what it looks like. Well written, beautifully styled and executed with flair, author Brian McGrory pulls off a fine story of national intrigue, mingled with danger and plenty of action. In building the character of Jack Flynn, Brian Mcgrory takes us into what makes the man who he is. Few authors do this, and it was refreshing. The plot is smart, and takes the reader along with it for a bumpy ride through the channels of Washington, and throughout a national newsroom. You will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A balance of action, adventure, mystery, and intrigue.
Review: Jack Flynn is a newshound for the Boston Record who suddenly gets a call from the President of the United States, wanting him to play golf. While at the Congressional Country Club playing golf with Clayton Hutchins, President, there is an assassination attempt that takes this story from dull to frightening to exciting in about 3 pages. With the country poised for a new election, the assassination attempt can only help President Hutchins gain national media coverage and encourage the sympathy vote. While attempting to gather information on a certain presidential pardon, Jack Flynn is thrust into areas he never thought he would be involved in, and the name of the game is that nothing is as it seems to be, no one is who they say they are, and no situation is what it looks like. Well written, beautifully styled and executed with flair, author Brian McGrory pulls off a fine story of national intrigue, mingled with danger and plenty of action. In building the character of Jack Flynn, Brian Mcgrory takes us into what makes the man who he is. Few authors do this, and it was refreshing. The plot is smart, and takes the reader along with it for a bumpy ride through the channels of Washington, and throughout a national newsroom. You will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: A gripping Washington thriller
Review: Jack Flynn is a newspaperman, in the best sense of the word, and that's what makes this such a terrific book. Lots of book characters pretend to be news people, affecting what their creators imagine to be the patterns of speech and behavior among people who chase news for a living. The difference here is that author Brian McGrory is a real newsman, an experienced hand of Washington journalism. By dint of his own experiences and hard-won knowledge, McGrory knows just how to bring Flynn to life, to make us care about him when he's in peril, to make us laugh along with him when he's cracking wise on deadline. McGrory does the same for the characters around Flynn, going beyond tired newsroom stereotypes to create men and women who feel as real as any member of the Washington press corps, moreso than some. Add that to a fast-paced, action-filled plot -- complete with some eye-opening twists and turns -- and you get an extraordinary first novel by a Boston Globe columnist whose sharp eye and writing flair have enabled him to make an impressive jump to fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Something is rotten at the White House in an election year
Review: Jack Flynn, the hero of Brian McGrory's political thriller "The Incumbent," is the Washington correspondent for the Boston Record. Investigating a story on a presidential pardon, Jack is surprised when but a few weeks before a close election, President Clayton Hutchins invited him to play a round of gulf. Jack is even more surprised when the President offers him the job of press secretary in his new administration, but even that is nothing when shots are fired, Jack and the President are hit, and the gunman is killed by the Secret Service in a hail of bullets. When Jack gets an annonymous phone call in the hospital, warning him that there is much more going on, we are hooked. The sub-plot of the novel has to do with Jack's private life, which was shattered when he took his wife to the hospital to have their first baby and came home that night with both of them dead. With people taking shots at him, Jack becomes interested in moving on in his life, which is certainly a reasonable conclusion to make under the circumstances.In terms of style, Brian McGrory is an excellent writer of nice, concise prose that is combined with a compelling thriller that makes this novel a fun summer read, albeit a quick one. Every few chapters we learn a little bit more about an armoed car heist in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1979, which obviously has something to do with the deepening mystery Jack is trying to solve, thereby giving us an opportunity to get a bit ahead of our hero in his investigations. McGrory was the correspondent for The Boston Globe at the White House, so the journalistic details ring true even when the political machinations become overly dramatic (sort of "All the President's Men" meets "The Manchurian Candidate"). I read "The Incumbent" after having rented the movie "The Contender" the week before, and it is impossible not to notice that both stories require us to believe that the press in this country would not learn about past incidents that may or may not decide the fate of a politician until they have high office almost in their grasp. But if both of these works have the same weakness--and willing suspension of disbelief is a major problem in books and movies today--they also both enjoy the same strength: their endings are not at all convention, which is a nice way of saying I had other expectations given the way things were being set up. I kept going back and forth in my mind on how I was going to end up rating "The Incumbent." In the end, McGrory's attention to detail and refusal to be predictable clearly outweighs by incredulity at the story he uncovers. This is only his first book; hopefully he has at least one more tale to tell and plenty of time to hone his skill at story construction.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and Fast
Review: Jack Flynn, the hero of Brian McGrory's political thriller "The Incumbent," is the Washington correspondent for the Boston Record. Investigating a story on a presidential pardon, Jack is surprised when but a few weeks before a close election, President Clayton Hutchins invited him to play a round of gulf. Jack is even more surprised when the President offers him the job of press secretary in his new administration, but even that is nothing when shots are fired, Jack and the President are hit, and the gunman is killed by the Secret Service in a hail of bullets. When Jack gets an annonymous phone call in the hospital, warning him that there is much more going on, we are hooked. The sub-plot of the novel has to do with Jack's private life, which was shattered when he took his wife to the hospital to have their first baby and came home that night with both of them dead. With people taking shots at him, Jack becomes interested in moving on in his life, which is certainly a reasonable conclusion to make under the circumstances. In terms of style, Brian McGrory is an excellent writer of nice, concise prose that is combined with a compelling thriller that makes this novel a fun summer read, albeit a quick one. Every few chapters we learn a little bit more about an armoed car heist in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1979, which obviously has something to do with the deepening mystery Jack is trying to solve, thereby giving us an opportunity to get a bit ahead of our hero in his investigations. McGrory was the correspondent for The Boston Globe at the White House, so the journalistic details ring true even when the political machinations become overly dramatic (sort of "All the President's Men" meets "The Manchurian Candidate"). I read "The Incumbent" after having rented the movie "The Contender" the week before, and it is impossible not to notice that both stories require us to believe that the press in this country would not learn about past incidents that may or may not decide the fate of a politician until they have high office almost in their grasp. But if both of these works have the same weakness--and willing suspension of disbelief is a major problem in books and movies today--they also both enjoy the same strength: their endings are not at all convention, which is a nice way of saying I had other expectations given the way things were being set up. I kept going back and forth in my mind on how I was going to end up rating "The Incumbent." In the end, McGrory's attention to detail and refusal to be predictable clearly outweighs by incredulity at the story he uncovers. This is only his first book; hopefully he has at least one more tale to tell and plenty of time to hone his skill at story construction.
Rating:
Summary: Something is rotten at the White House in an election year
Review: Jack Flynn, the hero of Brian McGrory's political thriller "The Incumbent," is the Washington correspondent for the Boston Record. Investigating a story on a presidential pardon, Jack is surprised when but a few weeks before a close election, President Clayton Hutchins invited him to play a round of gulf. Jack is even more surprised when the President offers him the job of press secretary in his new administration, but even that is nothing when shots are fired, Jack and the President are hit, and the gunman is killed by the Secret Service in a hail of bullets. When Jack gets an annonymous phone call in the hospital, warning him that there is much more going on, we are hooked. The sub-plot of the novel has to do with Jack's private life, which was shattered when he took his wife to the hospital to have their first baby and came home that night with both of them dead. With people taking shots at him, Jack becomes interested in moving on in his life, which is certainly a reasonable conclusion to make under the circumstances. In terms of style, Brian McGrory is an excellent writer of nice, concise prose that is combined with a compelling thriller that makes this novel a fun summer read, albeit a quick one. Every few chapters we learn a little bit more about an armoed car heist in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1979, which obviously has something to do with the deepening mystery Jack is trying to solve, thereby giving us an opportunity to get a bit ahead of our hero in his investigations. McGrory was the correspondent for The Boston Globe at the White House, so the journalistic details ring true even when the political machinations become overly dramatic (sort of "All the President's Men" meets "The Manchurian Candidate"). I read "The Incumbent" after having rented the movie "The Contender" the week before, and it is impossible not to notice that both stories require us to believe that the press in this country would not learn about past incidents that may or may not decide the fate of a politician until they have high office almost in their grasp. But if both of these works have the same weakness--and willing suspension of disbelief is a major problem in books and movies today--they also both enjoy the same strength: their endings are not at all convention, which is a nice way of saying I had other expectations given the way things were being set up. I kept going back and forth in my mind on how I was going to end up rating "The Incumbent." In the end, McGrory's attention to detail and refusal to be predictable clearly outweighs by incredulity at the story he uncovers. This is only his first book; hopefully he has at least one more tale to tell and plenty of time to hone his skill at story construction.
Rating:
Summary: An Outstanding First Novel
Review: Sometimes you walk into a bookstore simply hoping to find something to pass the time until the next book by one of your favorite authors finally comes out. I was fortunate to run across THE INCUMBENT on just such a day, and I am very glad I did. Brian McGrory has written an outstanding first novel that brings a breath of much-needed fresh air into the political thriller genre. McGrory, a reporter and columnist for a Boston newspaper, does what many first novelists do--bases his protagonist on himself in order to write about familiar places and situations. Unlike most first novels, however, McGrory does so without overdoing it. Jack Flynn, the reporter at the heart of the story, is a main character that many readers can identify with--he loves his job and has had his share of personal tragedies to accompnay professional successes. While researching a story on presidential pardons, Flynn is suddenly thrust into the middle of an assassination plot while golfing with the president, Clay Hutchins, just as Hutchins offers him a job as press secretary after the election two weeks hence. Flynn finds himself, ironically, the center of media attention and in the middle of what could be the biggest story of his career. As the plot unfolds, McGrory takes the reader on an interesting journey through the "life" of a story and builds to an exciting--if marginally unbelievable--conclusion. Along the way, Flynn's life is threatened on a number of occasions and it remains unclear until well into the book who the shadowy figure stalking Flynn really is. McGrory does a nice job in interweaving the back story into the main plot, never giving too much away until the reader has already pieced most of the puzzle together for himself. If the book has any flaws, they are mostly the by-products of the book's length--I would have enjoyed a little more detail about Flynn's meetings and history with Sammy Markowitz and in other places in the narrative. McGrory's climax and denouement are questionable, but this is excusable to a certain extent given the book's main problem. Without giving the plot away, it is unlikely in the extreme that Curtis Black could have achieved what he did in this era of media scrutiny. Nevertheless, this plot contrivance is only a minor irritant in an otherwise well-written and surprisingly thoughtful novel. Overall, this is certainly a solid book, and one only hopes that McGrory takes the time to demonstrate his talents for political fiction again...and soon.
Rating:
Summary: A nice and quick read
Review: The book in of itself is not that bad. It was well written and presented in a fast paced fashion. However, I found some of the plots to be too easily deducible. It might have been intentional, but it took away the pleasure of getting shocked with the truth.
Rating:
Summary: What a great story!
Review: The Incumbent is a thoroughly enjoyable story. Brian McGrory creates characters you can see and feel, real, three-dimensional people with flaws and virtues that make them complex and interesting. The hero, Jack Flynn has a dry wit and a past that makes you cheer for him. Other characters, many of whom are not clearly Jack's friend or foe, are equally well-developed. McGrory's knowledge and experience dealing with the insiders in Washington is in full view, as he crafts a credible, gripping tale, street smart, fast moving and with a satisfying finish that will leave you looking for his next book. For me, his next book can't come soon enough.
Rating:
Summary: Good Presidential Election Year Read
Review: THE INCUMBENT might not be the very best polictical thriller that I have ever read, but for a first novel, I rate it 4 stars. Brian McGrory has done a good job with his "hero" Jack Flynn. The obvious plot flaws, as pointed out by other reviewers, do not detract from the storyline, it just carried me along to its exciting conclusion. The author paints a good picture of DC politics and the many journalists who cover the President of the United States. I felt as if I were right in the White House briefing room. McGrory does not mind making jokes at the expense of his fellow journalists-himself included. Read this book and learn how jounalists should feel about the government and the Constiution of the United states. The fictional President Hutchins has quite a past-judge for yourself! The highest praise that I can give the THE INCUMBENT is that I will probably read his next book.
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