Customer Reviews

The Abduction

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Though it lacks the macabre tension that drove his last book (The Informant), The Abudction is a compelling and entertaining read that will only solidify Grippando's status as a top thriller writer. The author instantly sets the stakes high: a female attorney general is driven to become the first woman president; a retired army general is just as determined to become the first African American president. To what lengths will these candidates (or their supporters) go to win the election? How far might their enemies go to keep them from the White House? Whatever your political leanings, you will be caught up in this riveting tale of misguided ambition and ultimate betrayal. Grippando doesn't creat the formulaic "good guys" and "bad guys" found in cookie-cutter thrillers. He creates real people (in this case, politicians), which will keep readers wondering just who the real good guys are. The result is a believable high-concept mystery/thriller with a surprise ending that makes for non-stop enterntainment. Highly recommended.

Allison Leahy had a daughter kidnapped eight years ago. Now she is running for President and the Grandaughter of her opponent is kidnapped. Did Leahy have it done? Did Lincoln Howe, the grandfather, have it done? Who is the strange kidnapper and who hired him? Where does Mitch O'Brien, Leahy's ex-boyfriend fit in? You can have the answers to these and other questions by reading the book. If you like mysteries, this is a must read. There are many twist and turns put when explained they all make sense. You will find yourself wanting to read faster and faster to see what happens. You can relate to the characters and have feelings for them. Lots of action. Movement all the time, no dead pages. Truly a "Great" book.

This novel kept me up all night. I just couldn't put it down! A GREAT story that keeps the reader guessing right to the end. HIGHLY recommended!!!!

I enjoyed the novel,but felt his other books were much more interesting. It may be that politics are not my greatest interest. Looking from a well written book you cannot put aside the great plotting, interesting characters, and surprise ending. He is a great Author and all his books will read well. I would recommend all his books for great reading.

I loved this book! The author kept me anxious to keep turning pages. His characters were lifelike enough to be believable, and with the background setting of Washington D.C, were able to spring from the pages, each chapter more and more intriguing. "The Abduction" is very well written for the average reader, full of suspense, and taut with mystery. I did figure out who the villain was earlier than the author wished it known, but I enjoyed it just the same. The ending was a bit too quick, as though the author had already tired of the story, and a lot of loose ends were left dangling. Still, a worthy book, well worth the money and good for some nightly entertainment.

Everyone must read The Abduction. It was so suspenseful and the suprise ending was a shocker. Anyone that reads this well-written book will surely want to read other Grippando books.

...but I thought this one was a total dog of a book.

Normally, I am a big fan of Grippando's books - they are interesting, full of lots of intrigue, unexpected twists and politics. I've reviewed several of them and have given them high marks. So, when I found one written about presidential politics and read by Allison Janney from 'West Wing' I thought that this was bound to be a great book on tape.

However, the politics in this one was just silly. Before the action gets going in the book, Grippando has the two candidates, literally less than a week before the election, sitting around their houses. Think about the last presidential election. Was Kerry sitting around his house with 3 days to go. Was Bush? No - they were in the midst of a marathon of speeches and events that had been going on for at least a month. I remember when Bob Dole ran against Clinton - he literally made appearances for 48 hours straight - right through the night before election day and through election day until the polls were closed.

Also, there's no secret service protecting these people or their relatives. Plus, people don't recognize the candidates when they are in public. Come on - Kerry, Bush, Gore, Clinton, Dole - they are forever ingrained in the minds of any TV-watching American, especially the day before the election.

I was even more confused by the bad guy with the Italian last name and the Russian accent. Either Allison Janney is the worst actress ever with accents or they left out a vital piece of information in the abridgement.

***********Caution - Spoiler**********************

I was also bothered by the shallowness of the Attorney General / Democratic Presidential Candidate. Literally hours after she discovers the awful truth about her husband's involvement in her baby daughter's kidnapping - hours after her whole world has been turned upside down, she's busy making goo-goo eyes with the head of the FBI. Lame

**************End of spoiler*********************

Grippando usually mentions Florida gubernatorial politics in his other thrillers. He is familiar with politics, but like many candidates who aspire to the national stage, I don't think he was ready for the presidential level when he wrote this book.

I give this one a grade of D.

Mr. Grippando has written a taut thriller that keeps the reader's attention riveted. The end was just a little too quick and tidy for my preference, as if the author had more he wanted to say but somebody, his agent or his editor, told him to end the thing or it may end up being as long as War and Peace. The biggest problem I had was with the politics. I was very turned off by Mr. Grippando's characterization of the heroine as being the Democratic candidate for president while her Republican opponent was characterized as being the bad guy (that doesn't mean I've given away the ending). I'm a Democrat myself, but I don't particularly agree with Mr. Grippando's political stereotyping. The best way around the political party labelling is to be vague; just mention "the party" and let the reader decide which it is. Otherwise, a decent enough story.

Political thrillers, my particular genre, are usually pretty fast paced. This one moves a little slower. The Attorney General is running for President when her opponent's granddaughter is kidnapped. The plot is really quite good with all its twists and turns. I pretty much had it pieced together for the most part, but was surprised at what she did at the very end. This author is new to me so I wasn't sure what to expect. If you like Washington-based mysteries, you're sure to like this one.

This is the first book myself and my car pool have listened to by Mr. Grippando. We found it to be an OK book and we particularly enjoyed the narroator Allison Janney. Living in the Washington D.C. area we were definately able to visualize the scenes that were supposed to take place in this area. On the down side, we found the plot to be very simplistic, and by the middle of the book we had figured out who and why. Without giving away the ending, we just want to say that it left to many questions unanswered. We would recommend this book to others only after recommending other authors first. We all agreed that we would give this author another try. We don't judge on one book. Better luck next time Mr. Grippando.