Executive Privilege

Rating:
Summary: At Last!
Review: At Last! A book in which the President gets what is coming to him. The ending was a little surprising, and I could not help but have a smile on my face wondering what was going on in the President's mind.

This book is definitely a very good read.

Rating:
Summary: A good thriller
Review: David Owens is a 32-year-old attorney in San Antonio who has just won an important divorce settlement case. This was only his fifth trial. Three weeks later he is surprised by a visit from the First Lady of the United States, Myra McPherson. She wants a divorce and she wants Owens to represent her and her 8-year-old son. Needless to say, this opens up a whole can of worms. First off, the president wants his family back in the White House, as do some other powerful interests. Secondly it seems that young Randy, the first couple’s son, knows something he shouldn’t and this scares some very powerful people.

This was a well-paced thriller. Filled with thrills and surprises. The premise seemed a little stretched at times, but it was still a fairly good read.

Cute quote from inside the covers:

“If you beat an enemy, you’ve just made an even worse enemy. But if you turn your enemy into your friend, then you’ll have a friend you can never really trust.”

Recommended

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing in the extreme
Review: Jay Brandon is one of my favorite authors and I looked forward to reading his latest. What a disappointment. Absolutely preposterous plot. Cartoon bad guys. Predictable "surprise" ending with short shrift given to major plot elements. Though, somehow, it's probably his book most likely to be turned into a film!

Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable thriller
Review: One of the prime reasons John McPherson is elected President of the United States is he is scandal free. There are no stained dresses or other skeletons in his closet leaving a wary populace to believe the intelligent charming John will concentrate on Dow Jones. The First Lady Myra and First Son Randy add to the aura of the All-American family. The façade hides the reality that John is an aloof control freak who will do anything including illegal activities to increase and strengthen his power over the country.

However, the unthinkable occurs when Myra decides to become the first woman to divorce a sitting president. She quietly turns to attorney David Owens for help, claiming she and Randy are his toys for public show and is afraid what her husband might do to their preadolescent child. When John learns what Myra is doing, he uses the entire power of the American Presidency to bring his "loved ones" home or kill them before either one reveals the truth about his personality and his dealings.

Regardless of whether the reader accepts the EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE mistreatment by John, the entire audience will enjoy this thriller. The story line is fast-paced and never slows down as John employs the might of his office to destroy his beleaguered wife and son whose only protection is her lawyer and secret service agents assigned to them. Jay Brandon provides a powerfully nightmarish look at abuse of power though some readers will claim it is FEMA to watch out for, not the Office of President that is always inside a media fishbowl, and a Congressional checks and balances tug of war.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Realities of Modern Life
Review: Our Presidential roots suggests that it is entirely possible that a Presidential divorce would be out of the question given our high expectations of the office, its perks, and the dynamics under which it operates - while in office, as well as beyond it. However, given the nature of today's world, and the number of divorces that afflict the majority of the population, it is certainly an interesting concept to grapple with in the event it was ever a privilege at that executive level. In reviewing the concept, I had difficulty confining it to only future Presidents and was reminded of the difficulties other Presidential wives encountered, and what might have prompted a desire for divorce. For example, Jacqueline Kennedy might have been in such a situation had her husband not been assassinated prematurely. The complications of any divorce are difficult but must be nearly intolerable in such a prominent arena, thereby, encouraging the simplicity of dalliances rather than full blown affairs that might culminate in divorce for either party. It's obviously of some merit that the author decided to explore this unique, and conceivably legitimate topic since our Presidents are not usually permitted the luxury of being the human beings they might be without the pomp and circumstances that accompanies the office, sadly. The very tall order of the Presidential role does not easily lend itself to the rigors of daily life and freedom of relationships that might be formed outside of the "box," for the President or a First Lady. Perhaps, there is something to consider about placing older, and well established persons in the office, unlikely to encounter the typical stresses that often befall younger persons (whose hormones might still be active enough to pose such problems) where the good of the nation is of the utmost importance, or realize that Presidents do require a measure of privacy to prevent being so honor bound to be mounted upon the pedestal of stone so that they must endure such unearthly existences. We rarely reflect upon the fact that everyone appreciates freedom as well as privacy and safety - including Presidents and First Ladies.

Rating:
Summary: Will be a better movie than it is a book
Review: This is a book that almost makes it to the top of the star chart. The premise of a sitting First Lady wanting to divorce her husbnand, the President is not so hard to accept. Many White House marriages have been badly flawed and it is only a matter of time before a spouse has really had enough. If Jay Brandon had dealt with just that scenario this might have been a better book. Instead he throws in a Satanized version of Bill Gates who has developed a computer chip that will do the most dastardly things and who has the President in the palm of his hand and sleeping with one of his confederates. The whole project is in danger of being exposed, however. Not by some super spy of industrial espionage, but by the President's 8 year old son who has learned of the plans (and understands them) while evesdropping during Oval Office visits. Myra, the First lady is obsessed with Randy and getting him out of the White House. The bad guy is obsessed with getting Randy and closing the loop on exposure of his plans. The President is obsessed with staying in office. All of this gets dumped in the lap of a Texas lawyer named David Owens who becomes obsessed with Helen, one of the Secret Service Agents protecting Myra and Randy. This then turns into a lot of cat and mouse running and hiding, power plays, threats and intrigues and a surprise ending which has been done several times before and is no surprise to the reader.
It probably is a better movie script than a book but, readers who like intrigue among the powerful will still enjoy the book. I just thought it was a bit of a stretch.

Rating:
Summary: Preposterous! But fun
Review: Young San Antonio attorney David Owens wins a big divorce case and hopes it will attract some new business, though his wildest dreams didn't feature his next client, the First Lady - that's right, the wife of the President - who wants a divorce for the sake of her precocious young son.

Even Owens finds this preposterous and when his office is searched by sinister Secret Service agents who say the woman was an imposter, he's inclined to accept it. Until he gets a mysterious, plaintive email message, which brings him to Washington and into the White House. Intriguing? Outlandish? It gets better. Owens and a female Secret Service agent outwit various guards and technology to spirit the First Lady and her son out of captivity and off on a cross-country road trip. There's even a heavy-handed villain - a megalomaniac billionaire technology tycoon (a Darth Vader version of Bill Gates) with a direct line to the president, who he all but handed into office. Ridiculous? Certainly. But Jay Brandon keeps it all moving; juggling action, plot lines and characters for a rousing, suspension-of-disbelief entertainment.