When private detective Dana Cutler is hired to follow college student Charlotte Walsh, she never imagines the trail will lead to the White House. But the morning after Walsh's clandestine meeting with Christopher Farrington, President of the United States, the pretty young coed is dead—the latest victim, apparently, of a fiend dubbed "the D.C. Ripper."
A junior associate in an Oregon law firm, Brad Miller is stunned by the death row revelations of convicted serial killer Clarence Little. Though Little accepts responsibility for a string of gruesome murders, he swears he was framed for one of them: the death of a teenaged babysitter who worked for then-governor Farrington.
Suddenly nowhere in America is safe for a small-time private eye and a fledgling lawyer who possess terrifying evidence that suggests the unthinkable: that someone at the very highest level of government, perhaps the president himself, is a cold and brutal killer.
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Private detective Dana Cutler receives a seemingly routine assignment to follow a young girl working on a challenger’s campaign against the incumbent U.S. president. To Cutler’s shock, she witnesses a rendezvous between the young woman and the president. The next morning the woman’s mutilated body is discovered, and Cutler is suddenly a suspect. How can she prove her innocence against someone who has the power of the presidency at his disposal? Meanwhile, an associate in a law firm in Portland, Oregon, gets assigned the appeal of a serial killer on death row. The convicted felon claims he didn’t kill one of the victims—a young woman who was working for the state governor at the time—the same man who is now president. Could the president be a serial killer? Both story lines collide in this pulse-pounding thriller from genre veteran Margolin. Expect plenty of buzz for this one as a result of both the intriguing premise and the well-wrought narrative. --Jeff Ayers
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
I grew up in New York City and Levittown, New York. In 1965, I graduated from the American University in Washington, D.C., with a bachelor's degree in government. I spent 1965 to 1967 in Liberia, West Africa, as a Peace Corps volunteer, and graduated from New York University School of Law in 1970, working my way through the last two years by teaching junior high school at night in the South Bronx. My first job following law school was a clerkship with Herbert M. Schwab, the chief judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals, and from 1972 until 1996, I was in private practice, specializing in criminal defense at the trial and appellate levels. As an appellate attorney I have appeared before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Oregon Supreme Court, and the Oregon Court of Appeals. As a trial attorney, I handled all sorts of criminal cases in state and federal court, and have represented approximately thirty people charged with homicide, several of whom faced the death penalty. I was the first Oregon attorney to use battered women's syndrome to defend a woman accused of murdering her spouse.
Since 1996, I have been writing full-time. All of my novels have been bestsellers. Heartstone, my first novel, was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for an Edgar for best original paperback mystery of 1978. My second novel, The Last Innocent Man, was made into an HBO movie. Gone, But Not Forgotten has been sold to more than twenty-five foreign publishers and was made into a miniseries starring Brooke Shields. It was also the Main Selection of the Literary Guild. After Dark was a Book of the Month Club selection. The Burning Man, my fifth novel, published in August 1996, was the Main Selection of the Literary Guild and a Reader's Digest condensed book. My sixth novel, The Undertaker's Widow, was published in 1998 and was a Book of the Month Club selection. Wild Justice (HarperCollins, September 2000) was a Main Selection of the Literary Guild, a selection of the Book of the Month Club, and was nominated for an Oregon Book Award. The Associate was published by HarperCollins in August 2001, and Ties that Bind was published by HarperCollins in March 2003. My tenth novel, Sleeping Beauty, was published by HarperCollins on March 23, 2004. Lost Lake was published by HarperCollins in March 2005 and was nominated for an Oregon Book Award. Proof Positive was published by HarperCollins in July 2006. Executive Privilege was published by HarperCollins in May 2008 and in 2009 was given the Spotted Owl Award for the Best Northwest Mystery. Fugitive was published by HarperCollins on June 2, 2009. Willamette Writers gave me the 2009 Distinguished Northwest Writers Award. My latest novel, Supreme Justice, was published by HarperCollins in May 2010. My next novel, Capitol Murder, will come out in April 2012.
On October 11, 2011, HarperCollins will publish Vanishing Acts, my first Young Adult novel, which I wrote with my daughter, Ami Margolin Rome. Also in October, the short story "The Case of the Purloined Paget," which I wrote with my brother, Jerry, will be published by Random House in the anthology A Study in Sherlock.
In addition to my novels, I have published short stories and nonfiction articles in magazines and law journals. My short story "The Jailhouse Lawyer" was selected for the anthology The Best American Mystery Stories 1999. The House on Pine Terrace was selected for the anthology The Best American Mystery Stories 2010.
From 1996 to 2009 I was the president and chairman of the Board of Chess for Success. I am still heavily involved in the program, and returned to the board after a one-year absence in 2010. Chess for Success is a nonprofit charity that uses chess to teach study skills to elementary- and middle-school children in Title I schools . From 2007 to the present, I have been on the Board of Literary Arts, which sponsors the Oregon Book Awards, the Writers in the Schools program, and Portland Arts and Lectures.
Get ready to lose some sleep. I was not able to put this book down, and stayed up until 4 a.m. to finish it! The same thing happened to my mom, who was listening to it on the audio CD version.
I believe this is Mr. Margolin's best effort to date.
The book was fast paced, great characters, and a very credible, entertaining plot. If you like books that cover the U.S. from the West Coast to the East, politicians that you love to hate, lawyers, judges and law enforcement heroes that make you root for the home team and a little romance thrown in, then this is the book for you.
I was very sorry to read that Mr. Margolin's beloved wife passed away early last year. I think that it is possible that this great loss has made him a more powerful, gifted writer, and I sure wish that she was able to read this book. It is truly one of his best.
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Phillip Margolin is up to his old tricks. He has again come up with a novel which I guarantee you will have a hard time putting down as you read about the trials and tribulations of the two main characters, Dana Cutler and Brad Miller.
Cutler is a former policewoman, now a PI living in the DC area and Miller is a new associate at one of Portland, Oregon's most prestigious law firms. Each accepts an assignment; Cutler to due some surveilance on a young college student and Miller to do a pro bono appeal for a serial killer on Death Row. The common denominator that brings them together is Christopher Farrington. Farrington is the President of the United States.
He was elevated to that position while occupying the Vice Presidency when the elected president died. Farrington, as it turns out, has a zipper problem. He also has a close friend who is his top aide, who has been spending a fair amount of his time fixing that problem for quite some time.
How all of this blends into a real pot boiler of a novel is for the reader to discover and more telling of the story in this review would only dilute the fun.
If you are looking for a book to take on vacation, this would be a good choice, however you might lose some sleep.
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Having read and enjoyed a number of Margolin's previous works, I looked forward to Executive Privilege. Although perhaps not his best work, it is close and I was not disappointed. As the story unfolds, Margolin brings forth an intriguing murder mystery / conspiracy thriller that pulls in the ultimate executive, the President of the United States. It is somewhat reminiscent of David Baldacci's Absolute Power. The author is very effective is his use of movement between two murders and two corresponding sets of characters that come together as the story progresses. As with most of Margolin's works, you will find Executive Privilege to be a fast, enjoyable read.
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