Rating: 
Summary: Another terrific page turner
Review: I ordered both of Mr. Huston's books at the same time and started them just before Thanksgiving. After three days I had read them both, enjoyed them thoroughly and lost much sleep. It may be trite to say that he writes like Tom Clancy without the tedious technical explanations. It may also be a bit innacurrate as I enjoyed him more than TC. Huston is especially good with dialogue and these characters came alive for me. Clinton is lucky that Jim Dillon is a fictional character and not one of the Managers of Impeachment. I agree with the reader who would have liked to know more about the bad guy "George Washington". The characters in the book wanted to also as they realized the nature and extent of the armaments and techical equipment they possessed and asked the Butch Cassidy question: "Who are these guys"? I tend to agree that there will not be a three-peat...but you may recall that they could not i.d. GW, if that was in fact him who had his face blown off. In any event, if political/military/action novels are of interest to you, you could not do better than to read Mr. Huston. I am now a BIG fan!
Rating: 
Summary: RIGHT WING FANTASY
Review: I was looking for an alternative to Clancy and I have found it. "Price of Power," moves right along through the multiple series of events that are taking place. Huston doesn't bog you down with an overdose of technical jargon and he doesn't spend several pages describing each character. Huston uses just enough technical savvy to set the scene and then lets the action of the scene draw you in. A quick read and a must read!!Huston has made it to my must read author list.
Rating: 
Summary: Military, Government and Courtroom Drama All in One
Review: I was looking for an alternative to Clancy and I have found it. "Price of Power," moves right along through the multiple series of events that are taking place. Huston doesn't bog you down with an overdose of technical jargon and he doesn't spend several pages describing each character. Huston uses just enough technical savvy to set the scene and then lets the action of the scene draw you in. A quick read and a must read!! Huston has made it to my must read author list.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: I'll add my praise to the others. I'm retired military. I gobble good books like this one. Huston keep things technically and politically accurate. He is clever (well, he's way beyond simply clever .. but I don't have a spell checker to help me spell ingenious) and does a great job with dialogue. Well done.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: I'll add my praise to the others. I'm retired military. I gobble good books like this one. Huston keep things technically and politically accurate. He is clever (well, he's way beyond simply clever .. but I don't have a spell checker to help me spell ingenious) and does a great job with dialogue. Well done.
Rating:
Summary: Huston could have stopped at page 303 - and still won big!
Review: I'm still catching my breath. Two memoranda and a research project lay unfinished on my desk: I simply had to finish this book. Every character is sharply defined: the bile rises against the bad guys - and you want to cheer the good men and women on to victory. The plot is beautifully honed. Literally every word advances the story. The anti-climax at page 303 is powerful. I was immediately frightened that Huston couldn't keep the story going with the same force. Happily I was wrong: there are another pulse-pounding 128 pages ahead. As with any truly great thriller, the ultimate disappointment emerges when you finish the last page. You want more. These characters have become your friends (at least the good guys have) and you want them to immediately commence their next adventure. Thank you, Mr. Huston. It was nice to get entirely away from my petty problems because you wrote a book that I simply could not put down. Jerry
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a sequel that out paces the opening book.
Review: In his sequel to the "Balance of Power" James Huston provides a riveting extension of the driven political and military personalities in a complex south seas terrorist/Washington D.C. drama "Price of Power". Although the novel was chock full of military and legal details, Huston avoids the overload that often loses many readers. Instead, he provides a page turning, intriguing read that turns into an edge of seat experience. The sequel can be read separately but is most effective following the initial book. The only disappointment comes when you have to close the cover to depart the plane or hit the sack. I highly recommend it to those that like the legal maneuvering of a Grishom novel or the suspense Clancy provides. Huston puts it all together.
Rating:
Summary: Huston Scores Another Solid Hit!
Review: James Huston has done what few writers succeed in doing -- creating a sequel that is as good as, if not better than, the original. I would have rated this book "4 1/2 stars" if the Amazon rating system allowed me to. Like Balance Of Power, The Price Of Power is a political/military thriller that grabs your attention right from the start and never lets go. The action is electrifying, the characters are very well- developed and the dialogue is crisp and realistic. You could almost envision seeing and listening to Bill Clinton in some respects if you try real hard. While 501 pages in length, there isn't one page that you'll be sorry you read. The Price Of Honor is a book you won't want to miss. But do yourself a favor and read Balance Of Power first. Enjoy them both!
Rating:
Summary: Huston Scores Another Solid Hit!
Review: James Huston has done what few writers succeed in doing -- creating a sequel that is as good as, if not better than, the original. I would have rated this book "4 1/2 stars" if the Amazon rating system allowed me to. Like Balance Of Power, The Price Of Power is a political/military thriller that grabs your attention right from the start and never lets go. The action is electrifying, the characters are very well- developed and the dialogue is crisp and realistic. You could almost envision seeing and listening to Bill Clinton in some respects if you try real hard. While 501 pages in length, there isn't one page that you'll be sorry you read. The Price Of Honor is a book you won't want to miss. But do yourself a favor and read Balance Of Power first. Enjoy them both!
Rating: 
Summary: Balance of Power, part deux
Review: James Huston's second effort, 'The Price of Power' is a direct sequel to his 'Balance of Power'. Both novels put together can easily be read as one novel and I will hazard a guess that the original draft was just that - a work that was split into two parts.
The terrorist from the first book, "George Washington', survives and kidnaps an American mining executive and his wife. He is quickly killed and his wife is held hostage with the demand for the release of the captured terrorist band from the previous novel. It is unclear in the novel if the reader is supposed to believe that the executive's wife is dead or alive.
The second thread of the novel are two courtroom procedures: the impeachment of the President on the grounds that he is a pacifist and cannot fulfill his duties as President of the United States and the court martial of Admiral Billings who led the original assault on the terrorist island. Still another plot thread is the use of another clause in the Constitution to justify further military action without the authority of the executive to rescue the hostage.
'The Price of Power" is better written than the previous novel because there are fewer dangling plot threads and the main characters behave with greater consistency than in the first book. The author also does a good job with his simple but effective courtroom dialogue sequences which are the true heart of the novel.
However, as in his first novel, the author uses his characters and storyline to present a right-wing interpretation to the Constitution and the roles of the President and Congress. The author misreads the Constitution and expects up to believe in some unlikely scenarios. For example, can you imagine a true pacifist getting through the President primary process? How about a President's mother testifying at an impeachment hearing? Or how about a court martial that judges on the constitutionally of an act and not the UCMJ?
As with his first novel, you need to put your brain on hold for this one, but if you do, you will enjoy this well paced fantasy novel for right-wingers. I intend to read his next novel, "Flash Point' which I hope is more military action than right-wing political fantasy.
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