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.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Read in over a Year
Review: The Incumbent was the most thrilling and interesting reads I have had in my possession in over a year. The insider's perspective of Washington politics and journalism adds volumes to the plot and characters. The Incumbent begins to hold your interest immediately, then owns your attention throughout while entertaining with a captivating armored bank heist, interesting characters(both endearing and evil), internal workings within the FBI and a realistic brush with a Militia Camp. It is also extremely humorous, which delighted me. I am a huge fan of Stuart Woods and James Patterson. But I think I have found my new favorite author and fervently hope that McGrory has another book in him.
Rating:
Summary: Realistic, funny and fascinating
Review: This book grabbed me from the first page, not only for it's plot, but for the development of the characters and the humor they all had. It's the first book I've ever read that seemed to accurately portray the way politicians and reporters relate to one another. And some of the scenes inside the Oval Office made me feel like I was there. Such a great read I didn't want it to end.
Rating:
Summary: I Couldn't Put It Down
Review: This fast-paced political thriller is what most books of this type are not -- written by someone who actually seems to know the worlds of politics and journalism. The voices of all the characters ring true, and from the most despicable to the most alluring I enjoyed meeting all of them. The jolts in the book were true, timed right, and absent the detour to implausibility taken by so many who try their hand at thriller fiction. The frequent asides, stage whispers really, to the reader also worked -- many provoked out loud laughter. All told, I couldn't put it down and hope this is not Mr. McGrory's last foray into political thrillers.
Rating:
Summary: Authentic to Washington Politics and Journalists Life
Review: This is a book that you can't put down. From its beginning, the book is rich in authentic details of the Washington political scene, people and places in the Washington D.C. area, notably the Georgetown neighborhood, and also realistically portrays the life of a journalist for a major metropolitan newspaper. Undoubtedly, The Incumbent was my favorite fiction of the year. As a Georgetowner, and also as an owner of a golden retriever, it was especially enjoyable. Thanks Brian McGrory for the great read!
Rating: 
Summary: Reality vs. Fiction
Review: This is an ok novel that got better as the Bush vs. Gore election date drew closer and Gore won; then Bush won; now...we wait to find out who won. In The Incumbent, a newspaper journalist, Jack Flynn is invited to play golf with the sitting president Clayton Hutchins and to his surprise is offered the job of press secretatry if Hutchins is elected. The offer was as much a surprise as the two gunshots that left both the President and Flynn wounded. When Jack received a call in the hospital from a mysterious caller informing him that nothing was not as it seemed, it started him on an investigation that ultimately led to critical information about Hutchins who was only a day away from being elected President of the United States for the first time. (He had taken over the office the first time when his predecessor died in office.) The story's plot seemed to have the ulterior motive of convincing us of the public's right to know. It was more about how journalists work and defend their intrusions than the mystery of the story. The suspense, however, worked and for a first novel was good enough to warrant looking for more work from this author. It gives nothing away to add that the voting public elected Hutchins in spite of what Jack Flynn revealed to them; just as the voters in New York elected Hillary in spite of what they already knew about her.
Rating: 
Summary: Plot Full of Holes
Review: This story has more implausibilities and unexplained developments than any novel I remember in the polical-journalist-mystery genres. First off, the hero gets "a bullet hole in my chest and an injured rib" but somehow exits the hospital in about 36 hours and begins scampering around on the case like he'd never been hit at all. Perhaps it is the extremely tight timeline, keyed to a presidential election, that causes this whole narrative to move at a frenzied pace that leaves key plot points unexplained and lost in the whirlwind of a climax that is based on such an improbable premise that it's just plain ludicrous. If you're not left feeling that you've been played like a trombone when the Presidential character's background is revealed, you're a better sport than I. Many twists and turns go wholly unexplained. For instance, midway through the plot our narrator-journalist is flying back to D.C. from the Far West when suddenly a note appears on his airplane seat. Is it from his anonymous source? Or are the bad guys on his tail? And how did anyone know he was on the plane? And how did they mobilize so effectively? In any case, none of this is ever clarified -- as is the case with about 10 other plot points that would unfairly disclose story content to discuss in detail. Overall, the implied compact between writer and reader requires that all plot intrigues be explained (and thereby justified/rationalized) by the last page. In this book, which I read twice just to be sure, we're just given lots of chunks of swiss cheese. It makes one wonder not so much about the first-time author but whether editors at Pocket Books and Simon & Schuster spent much time absorbing the content. And how unsophisticated do they think their readers are anyway -- notwithstanding glowing reviews on the book jacket from some D.C. heavyweights who certainly didn't read every word and turn every page. No way.
Rating:
Summary: Story Filled With Plot Holes
Review: This story has more implausibilities and unexplained developments than any novel I remember in the political-journalist-mystery genres. First off, the hero gets "a bullet hole in my chest and an injured rib" but somehow exits the hospital in about 36 hours and begins scampering around on the case like he'd never been hit at all. Perhaps it is the extremely tight timeline, keyed to a presidential election, that causes this whole narrative to move at a frenzied pace that leaves key plot points unexplained and lost in the whirlwind of a climax that is based on such an improbable premise that it's just ludicrous. If you're not left feeling that you've been played like a trombone when the Presidential character's background is revealed, you're a better sport than I. Many twists and turns go wholly unexplained at the end. For instance, midway through the plot our narrator-journalist is flying back to D.C. from the Far West when suddenly a note appears on his airplane seat. Is it from his anonymous source? Or are the bad guys on his tail? And how did anyone know he was on the plane? And how did they mobilize so effectively? In any case, none of this is ever clarified -- as is the case with about 10 other plot points that would unfairly disclose story content to discuss in detail. Overall, the implied compact between writer and reader requires that all plot intrigues be explained (and thereby justified/rationalized) by the last page. In this book, which I read twice just to be sure, we're just given lots of chunks of Swiss cheese. It makes one wonder not so much about the first-time author but whether editors at Pocket Books and Simon & Schuster spent much time absorbing the content. And how unsophisticated do they think their readers are anyway -- notwithstanding glowing reviews on the book jacket from some D.C. heavyweights who certainly didn't read every word and turn every page. No way.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!
Review: This thriller was certainly the best I have read in my life. If you don't mind seeing f*** every page a couple of times then you have no problems. If you do, still read it.The Incumbent is a political mystery about a reporter for a Boston tabloid (the Record) by the name of Jack Flynn. One day after running a presidential pardon story and sending a letter to the President, Clayton Hutchins, Hutchins invites him to the golf course where a bullet is fired that lands both Hutchins and Flynn in the hospital. The Story is about Jack Flynn trying to figure out who shot it and why. There are many twists and turns on the way there.
Rating:
Summary: Walter Mitty Journalist
Review: This was obviously written by a journalist with a journalists typically inflated since of professional importance. It required a pretty good imagination, and I don't know many sailors with as obscene a vocabulary as nearly every one in the book. Barely a paragraph is without the "F word". I had to be very careful about reading it in front of my newly reading sons, out of fear for being asked to define words that are best left undefined.
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