Executive Privilege [Mass Market Paperback]

Jay Brandon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2003

For years, Edgar-nominee (Fade the Heat) Jay Brandon has enthralled readers with novels set in the legal world of his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. But with Executive Privilege, Brandon chooses a wider stage and brings the reader an all-new thriller set against the backdrop of our nation’s capital, the story of a wife’s desperate attempt to save herself and her young son from her husband, a man involved with selling our nation’s secrets and willing to do whatever he can to ensure that his family doesn’t get away. The wife? Myra McPherson, the First Lady of the United States.

When San Antonio attorney David Owens wins an important divorce case, he hopes the victory will bring him some new business. But he never imagined that the First Lady, a Texas native, would walk through his office door. Shy and fearful, the First Lady explains that she needs to divorce the President, to get herself and her young son out of the White House. The President is engaged in dangerous dealings . . . and has been unfaithful. But no woman has ever divorced a sitting President, and while every President has secrets, none are like the secrets this President wants to protect: his nefarious dealings with a billionaire businessman willing to use his money and power to manipulate even the leader of our nation.

When the news breaks, the publicity is huge, but the threat is even bigger. Orders have been given to kill the First Lady and her son, and all that stands in the way is her divorce lawyer and one Secret Service agent whose oath to protect her charges is more important to her than the power of the President.

With all the elements of a great thriller and a great courtroom drama, Jay Brandon delivers a novel sure to keep you up long past your bedtime.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Sometimes you're settling into a thriller and you think: why hasn't someone thought of this before? Although the idea of the First Lady divorcing her husband while he's still the president may have seemed farfetched a few years back, it's entirely plausible these days, and it's a little surprising that it has taken this long for someone to write a novel about it. And a fine novel it is, too: exciting, smart, deceptive. How would the wife of the U.S. president go about getting a divorce, anyway? That's what Texas attorney David Owens needs to find out after he's hired to act as her lawyer. Owens is instantly propelled into the top levels of American government and into a plot of devilish complexity that threatens to ruin his career, if it doesn't kill him first. Brandon, the author of 11 previous novels, sets us up to expect a hairraising finale, and he delivers the goods. An expert blend of intelligent plotting and adrenalinepumping suspense. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jay Brandon is the author of twelve critically acclaimed novels, including the Edgar Award-nominated Fade the Heat. As an attorney, Brandon has practiced at the highest criminal court in Texas, the Court of Criminal Appeals. He continues to practice family and criminal law. Brandon lives in San Antonio with his wife and three children.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 404 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (September 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812575458
• ISBN-13: 978-0812575453
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,870,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jay Brandon (1953- ) grew up and his lived primarily in San Antonio, Texas. A graudate of the University of Texas, he also has a Master's degree from The Writing Seminars of Johns Hopkins University, and a J.D. from the University of Houston.
Brandon is the author of 15 novels and one book of non-fiction, as well as a number of short stories published in anthologies.
Brandon has also been a lawyer since 1985. His first job out of law school was at the Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal court in Texas. He then served as an assistant district attorney of Bexar County (San Antonio), Texas, and a staff attorney on the Fourth Court of Appeals of Texas, before going into private practice in 1990.
Brandon's 1990 novel FADE THE HEAT, his first legal thriller, was shortlisted for the Edgar Award and optioned by Amblin Entertainment. That and later novels have been published by more than a dozen foreign published, with worldwide distribution.
Brandon is married and the father of three children. He is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and the American Crime Writers League (although he generally dislikes belonging to any group; just a natural prejudice).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable thriller, September 18, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Executive Privilege (Hardcover)

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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Preposterous! But fun, February 4, 2002

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Executive Privilege (Hardcover)

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.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Will be a better movie than it is a book, December 18, 2001

By 

John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Executive Privilege (Hardcover)

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.