Customer Reviews

The Kingmaker

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A veteran of over 100 television film and series episodes voice performer John Rubinstein gives an appropriately suspenseful reading to this tale of intrigue in our country's highest offices.

Popular protagonist Major Sean Drummond returns in Haig's latest epic. This time out he's charged with the defense of Brigadier General William T. Morrison. It's a case of treason and Drummond really doesn't want to face the Army's toughest prosecutor.

However, Morrison wants him, and so does his CIA wife, Mary, who was once close, quite close to Drummond.

But wait a minute, he thought he was fighting a charge of treason, maybe perjury, but it turns out to be murder. As if that weren't enough of a surprise his co-counsel is Katrina Mazorski, she of the skin tight black leather pants and jewelry bedecked navel. Warning: no one should be fooled by her appearance.

Between the two of them they unearth enough secrets to jar both Washington and Moscow. Someone is manipulating them - who and why?

Haig has created a tense thriller that'll keep listeners enthralled.

- Gail Cooke

This is the first novel by Brian Haig that I have read; it works very well as a standalone story although definitely made me want to read his two earlier novels with Major Sean Drummond as the chief protagonist. While this is a story within a legal framework, it is much more an action-adventure, espionage, political intrigue, romantic thriller with frequent comic relief to offset the tension. It is an incredibly fast paced, easy read which I enjoyed tremendously.

The storyline is simplicity itself, Brigadier General William Morrison is in Fort Leavenworth, accused of the most damaging acts of treason in the history of the country. Despite their personal animosity, he chooses Major Sean Drummond of the JAG Corps to not only save him from the death penalty but prove his innocence. Not only does Drummond dislike Morrrison intensely, but the General's wife Mary, a high level CIA employee who had been stationed in Moscow with Morrison, had an affair with Drummond before she dumped him to marry up in class. Just to raise the stakes, the prosecuting attorney, Major Eddie Golden, has twice been the recipient of the Hangman Award (the JAG equivalent of Top Gun status). Further stumbling blocks are that most of the evidence is classified top security and knowledge of Russian appears to be a mandatory skill. Sean locates a civilian associate, Katrina Mazorski, who is both fluent in Russian and has top secret clearance but whose experience since her recent graduation from law school has primarily consisted of cases from the local police blotter. With her pierced navel and non-traditional dress, she is the perfect foil for Drummond. Many of their interchanges are wonderful.

The case seems hopeless and Morrison appears guilty, but when Drummond is forced to protect himself and Katrina on multiple occasions from attempted ambushes (including during a visit to Moscow), they conclude that there is a massive coverup being attempted and perhaps their client really is innocent of the most serious charges, although still guilty of being an overbearing, ambitious and egotistical jerk. This is a story whose plot very cleverly includes a conspiratorial explanation for the dissolution of the Soviet Empire and the eventual rise to power of Putin. It even includes characters who appear to be loosely based on President Clinton and Strobe Talbott. It is an alternate history, where you just accept the background as you are swept along in the story.

The characters are so sharply drawn that they are almost all charicatures of themselves, but tremendously enjoyable ones. In many instances, Drummond's wisecracks and his repartee with Katrina strike just the right note in keeping him true to the story. (Just the same sort of embellishment to the role that has made James Bond's character so universal and so durable despite the stories having an element of unbelievability.) For those who want a fast paced tale, this is the legal equivalent of James Bond without the futuristic aspects that have increasingly become the trademark of that franchise. While I doubt Sean Drummond will be as durable a character and as good a franchise as Bond (and the genre of legal action adventure thrillers is a lot narrower), I enjoyed this book as much and felt it was as true to the period in which it is set as the early Ian Fleming books which I read voraciously approximately thirty years ago.

By far, this is the best book that Brian Haig has written. His ability to start a book with humor had me laughing out loud. The ability of mixing humor and tension later in the book was wonderful.
The book begins by telling you that Sean Drummond has again been given another legal case. From there to the time that he picks his assistant will keep any reader from putting this book down. He has already held the reader in his grips when he describes his assistant Katrina.
I expect to see Nicholas Cage playing the part of Sean Drummond. If he does, I can just imagine the previous books also being made into movies.
Recommendation: Read the book before the movie comes out.
Reading time: four days, as this is a very quickly moving book.
Thanks. cb.

By now many readers have become happily acquainted with the style of Major Sean Drummond's amusingly sarcastic personality. In The Kingmaker, Brian Haig's third book, circumstances affect Major Drummond in such a way that his attitude becomes occasionally more caustic than normal.

This time around, our beloved JAG officer is asked to defend a man accused of treason - not just any treason, however, but the worst case against the United States government to date. To make matters more difficult, treason is not the only charge against him.

The overzealous prosecutor has also added such things as adultery, perjury and murder. Major Drummond has a hard road ahead of him, and not just in defending someone that seems to have no possible defense, but also due to the fact that he despises his client.

Brigadier General William Morrison is married to the one woman Drummond has always wanted to spend his life with...the one that got away. Morrison has been a thorn in Drummond's side for years, and now he's stuck trying to prove his innocence when helping him is the last thing he truly wants to do.

The clouds eventually open up, though, and a ray of possibility shines through. If Drummond can find the man known as "The Kingmaker," he can possibly find the truth behind the accusations against Morrison. With the help of his Russian-speaking, leather-wearing co-counsel, Katrina Mazorski, and the ever-present legal assistant Sergeant First Class Imelda Pepperfield, he might just be able to beat the odds.

Brian Haig has developed a character that is likeable and laughable at the same time that he is being brash and brilliant, which gives life to the books rather than making them just dry, legal tomes.

One of the best aspects of these novels is that they can each stand alone. While Sean Drummond, Imelda Pepperfield and some of the other characters surrounding his career are present in each volume, there is not a thread connecting them in such a way that the reader must follow them in order.

In fact, Brian Haig even takes the time to explain Drummond's "black unit" background in all three. In this way, one isn't left guessing as to how exactly he got where he was, yet he doesn't approach it in such a way that makes a Drummond "follower" feel as though it is redundant.

Well, what can I say. I am a big Brian Haig fan. I enjoyed this book so much. I look so forward to Mr. Haig's books and I was not disappointed. I love the Sean Drummond character, not only his great sense of humor, but the fact that he makes mistakes, has vulnerabilities just like the rest of us. I think Mr.Haig is up there with Ludlum, Forsyth and Demille, which as far as I'm concerned is really good company. I will be reading his next one too. I hope Drummond will be back, but if not, I still look to any story that Mr. Haig will tell.

Sean Drummond has had tough cases, but none like that of General William Morrison who stands accused of naming names and exposing the inner workings of the US foreign policy to the Russians.

Morrison swears he is being framed and the further Drummond investigates he realizes things are not as they seem and he will need more than the confidence of those counting on him. What he gets is Katrina Mazorski-a Russian speaking, pierced, skin-tight clothes wearing co-council.

As the investigation heats up, Drummond and Katrina discover shocking secrets and cover-ups that stretch from Washington to Moscow, and what started as a case of treason now has two counts of murder, while behind-the-scenes is someone with a master plan, pulling the strings and not willing to stop until Morrison is destroyed.

`The Kingmaker' is an electrifying thriller that starts fast and gains speed with each turn of the page. Combining political, military and legal thrills with fleshed-out characters `The Kingmaker' moves full force with loads of plot twists and secrets to make this stand out among other novels in the genre.

Brian Haig burst on the scene a couple of years ago, and with only three novels under his belt he has become one of my MUST READ authors. His writing is style smooth, his pacing brisk, and his plots are gripping...if you have not discovered Haig yet, do yourself a favor and read him, he is that good.

`The Kingmaker' is top-notch entertainment for fans of well-written, fast-paced thrillers that should land on all the best-seller lists.

Nick Gonnella

Each time out, Brian Haig gets more accomplished as a writer of thrillers. In Sean Drummond he has created an engaging protagonist worthy of the complex and timely plots he constructs. JAG lawyer Drummond has so far travelled from the the atrocity-scarred Balkans to the turmoil of the Korean peninsula and now, in The Kingmaker, to the chaos of the Russian Federation to find the truth behind the allegations of treason levelled against his latest client, who just happens to be a former Academy classmate. An altogether thrilling ride, with some remarkable insights into who actually controls the political landscape of present day Russia.

I listened to an abridged version of this book on cassette tape while on a road trip. Unlike another book on tape I tried on that trip, the person who read The Kingmaker was easy to understand. The reader also did a competent job of creating the voices of the different characters.

I chose the book because it was the only one in the display at Cracker Barrel that was at least 6 hours long and did not have a listener warning about language and content. (The other one was a Nancy Drew mystery of only 3 hours).

I thought this was a good book but not a great book. I found the characters and plot interesting and occasionally laughed at the humor. I appreciated the main characters ability to defend his client and to keep from getting killed. I also liked that the author kept the plot moving and mostly used amusing similes. I especially liked that the author kept the language and violence down to around a PG13 level. I didnt think the book was great, because nothing about it really blew me away. But I did enjoy it, and I can recommend it to anyone who needs to kill a few hours.

Brian Haig is one of my must read authors. All of his books have been exciting military legal thrillers and "The Kingmaker" is no exception. I highly recommend this book and look forward to Mr. Haig's next book.

See book summary above.

Brian Haig is one of my favorite authors. This novel puts him in that field of great thriller writers. His novels are well researched and his writing style draws the reader in.
The protagonist, Sean Drummond, is very likeable. Maybe because he rarely takes anything seriously.
A solid and suspenseful novel sure to please all thriller readers.

Highly recommended.