President Down [Hardcover]

Terence Strong (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2008

Former British intelligence operative Phil Mason has embarked on a new career as a struggling private investigator. He's grateful for the offer of work from his former M15 liaison officer, Joe Lassiter, who requests his assistance in the hunt for members of al-Qaeda cells in the UK. M15 has a shortlist of 'low level' suspects who need to be investigated and eliminated from enquiries. Teaming up with his former associate, Jasmina (Jazz) Alagic, Mason sets out to track down Lassiter's suspects. At first, he finds the surveillance work mind-numbingly dull - until one of the subjects, a man known as Khan, starts to behave extremely suspiciously. Breaking into Khan's home, Mason and Jazz discover him dead, his throat slit. An encrypted email on the dead man's laptop reveals an enigmatic reference to an assassination attempt to be made on the US president during his forthcoming official visit. Heading a small team in the hunt for Khan's killer and the would-be assassins, the terrible truth dawns on Mason: there must be a traitor within the UK security apparatus. The tension ratchets up as the date of the President's visit fast approaches and the identity of the would-be assassin is revealed: a shocking revelation with dire consequences. Mason must hastily re-learn his old counter-sniper skills if the President's life is to be saved.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British bestseller Strong (Stalking Horse) delves into the murky world of espionage and terrorism as seen through the eyes of Phil Mason, a former Royal Marine sniper turned PI. A little surveillance on an easy target turns into an investigation of several people with suspected ties to al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists. With a team that includes his former lover, interpreter Jasmina Jazz Alagic, and a Pakistani MI5 agent called Popadom, Mason goes to work and soon stumbles upon an assassination plot of frightening magnitude. Strong predictably runs down the checklist of the world-weary hero's personal life—a checkered past, an acrimonious divorce, a stack of unpaid bills—but thorough research and ample details grant verisimilitude, and cutting-edge spy gadgets, topical issues, and a surprisingly nuanced understanding of world politics and Islamic tradition make this more than your basic anti-terrorist shoot-'em-up. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"Possibly the best American/British versus Islamic terrorists book I have read."  —Bookseller magazine

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743285638
• ISBN-13: 978-0743285636
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,566,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The spies in England, July 28, 2010

By 

wogan "the book reader" - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: President Down (Paperback)

`President Down' is an English book that unless you are familiar with some of the British military terminology you might need translations: DPM - disruptive pattern material - what we would call camouflage, when the agents talk about visiting Grosvenor Square they are going to the American Embassy, GCHQ is their intelligence headquarters. Terence Strong really does very little translating for his American audience and some are not easy to figure out or familiar to Americans, some like MI5 or MI6, the tube might be more well-known.
There are also some interesting insights to the British view of the war on terror and of President Bush, who is the president in the title. However there is very little of the president in here. Some of the statistics mentioned, like US aid to Israel are questionable - so know that some tolerance for these factors are going to be needed to enjoy reading this; as is a lot of the radical Muslim rants about "the most evil man in history".
There is really no mention of the president until page 286. There are over 500 pages in the novel, it is somewhat drawn out in places. There is a double twist at the end, that I never saw coming - either one, and usually they are pretty obvious to me. For most of the book the settings are realistic, however it ends at a non-existent RAF/USAF Airbase.

If you make it through the 500 pages and the British military information, you can still smile at the hero and main character, a former British marine sniper, who after a botched break in, waits for the authorities and makes a cup of tea for everyone.
So... for those of us that enjoy political/military/suspense you might appreciate this English author and this book.