Customer Reviews

The President's Assassin

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This was my first exposure to the writing of Brian Haig and his character, Army JAG Major Sean Drummond. It will not be my last.

In partnership with Jennifer Margold, a special FBI Agent attached to the DC field office and Drummond on assignment to the CIA Office of Special Projects, are part of the team that is called to investigate the murder of the President's Chief of Staff, his wife and four of his protectors. It is clearly done by professionals and it is equally clear that they had inside information to accomplish the hit. A note is left behind which warns: "You can't stop us. There will be others and the President will be history in two days."

True to their words, the killers execute other high profile Washington figures as the team struggles to find an answer as to who is behind all of this.

Margold and Drummond seem to be on the track and a breakthrough interview with the mother of one of the Secret Service protectors who has gone missing focuses the investigation. There are numerous wheels within wheels on the team as the various agencys and people in them move to protect their turf, sometimes to the detriment of the search. However, as the net closes on the individual being sought and more killings occur, a ransom demand is received from the perpetrators. They want 50 million dollars in untracable money to call off the killing spree. The government agrees and then the story really starts to get interesting. Drummond is the courier who is selected to deliver the money and Margold is in the FBI Agent in charge of seeing that he survives the experience. Their relationship as the story develops has bordered on the romantic, although circumstances keep it from bearing any fruit, so to speak. To tell you more concerning the problems that are thrown in the way of the delivery of the money and it's aftermath would spoil the story and this is a story that delivers all the suspense and surprises that a reader can take.

This is first class stuff written by an author that has a great ability to deliver dialogue so that you swear you can hear the voices involved. You will not want to put this one down, trust me.

I thought this book was a great addition to the series! The author keeps writing about what he knows, and he knows the U.S. military. Haig is a West Point Graduate with 22 years of Army service.

The Main character is Army JAG lawyer, Sean Drummond is his old wisecracking self, zinging oneliners and putting the idiots in place. His intincts again prove he is the best. The Drummond character definitly carries this book.

I wont rehash the plot that has already been done enough here. The plot while nothing too complicated was compelling and kept me turning the pages. The characters are well Drawn and I loved the Bad guys (they were fun to hate!).

A woman has waited 30 years to get her revenge. Now there are spin-offs. Prominant political figures are assassinated, along with assorted spear carriers and bystanders who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nobody except the killers knows who might be next. It is almost impossible to protect people from a dedicated assassin.

Army Major Sean Drummond, a JAG recently enlisted into the CIA's Office of Special Projects, is assigned to the case. He has some relevant experience in his past. He finds himself teamed with a behavioral scientist from the FBI. They become intangled in the petty infighting among individuals who seem more interested in what they will personally get from the case, then in solving the murders.

The action takes place over a couple days as they try to unravel the mystery of who is doing the hits. Things become highly dangerous when they discover that the black hats have sophisticated military weapons. Primary suspicion falls on an individual they can't find. The motives are initially obscure, but it seems to be about extortion for a very large sum of money. Things don't seem to ring right with Sean, but he can't seem to put his finger on what is out of place.

The author has done some very good writing, and the novel will keep you up late. There is a surprise ending, so no peeking.

How did I like it? "Not so much."

I think the main problem that I had with the book was that the "twist" in the story seemed apparent to me early in the plot, so I was mentally screaming at the primary character to pull his head out. That aspect distracted me from truly enjoying the story, but I found that I was generally entertained and I didn't want to put it down, so it definitely rates better than many.

Are you a Brian Haig/Sean Drummond fan who is wondering if you should read this fifth entry in the series? If so, my answer is an unqualified yes. This book is extremely enjoyable; it includes all the elements which I will discuss later in this review which have hooked me on the series. In the event that you want additional details or a plot summary, read on, although your time might be better spent just ordering the book so that you can start reading it as soon as possible.

On the other hand, if you have never read any of the earlier books, read further to discover why my personal experience leads me to suggest that you do not start with this one. I want to hasten to add, however, that THE PRESIDENT'S ASSASSIN certainly works very well as standalone story. I just believe that regardless of what your goals are, it makes sense to read at least some of the earlier books in the series first.

The first book by Brian Haig which I read was THE KINGMAKER; I found it incredibly enjoyable and my only regret was that I had not read the books in the series in the order in which they were written. (My experience is one of the three reasons for my recommendation to first time readers) While it was a great story, the references to Major Drummond's previous experiences and relationships made me wish that I had more than the summary background woven into that narrative. While this is always the dilemma faced by a new reader of a longstanding series, in this case the fact that this is only the fifth book makes it a fairly easy task to start at the beginning. And while the drawback of starting with the first book, SECRET SANCTION, is that it is not as polished a story (a trait shared with many other first time novels), it is still a tight plot which takes advantage of the author's military background while introducing a wonderful character. I also feel that I would have actually enjoyed it more if I had gotten immersed in the series by reading it first. Second, reading the series out of order in at least one case destroys the surprise element (if not shock value) of developments later in the series. Last, if you only want to read one or two of Haig's works (at least initially), my ratings of both THE KINGMAKER (#3) and MORTAL ALLIES (#2) are a full five stars and thus slightly higher than the five minus which I gave to this story. However, I want to reemphasize that in my opinion you will either enjoy any of Haig's books or find all of them not to your liking.

This plot is really simple and very compelling - six people including the White House Chief of Staff are found methodically murdered and a note has been left which indicates that more murders will be committed and then within two days the "President will be history". Army Major and JAG lawyer Sean Drummond (the James Bond of the legal profession- except with a better sense of humor and irony) is now working on assignment with a CIA cell called the Office of Special Projects. He is ordered to accompany special FBI Agent Jennifer Margold to observe the scene of the multiple murders. Sean's antennae cause him to make several knowledgeable observations concerning the supposedly secure electronic surveillance at the site, and soon he realizes too late "in retrospect, I should have heeded the old warning: Never test the depth of water with both feet." He discovers after he has waded in that he is now not just a CIA observer in case foreign terrorists are involved but has become a full fledged member of the investigative team. The only consolation seems to be that despite her frosty demeanor Agent Margold (eventually to become Jenny) is "early to mid-thirties, shoulder-length coppery hair, slender... attractive - not beautiful, more like pretty in an interesting way...light on the makeup, heavy on the bitchiness...eyes...a sort of frosted blue, like chilled cobalt". The intrigue is ratcheted up when they discover a shadowy foreign group has supposedly offered a bounty of $100 million dollars for killing the President; subsequently the tension escalates when further murders are committed. Jenny quickly identifies a prime suspect; however, the search for him proves fruitless and Sean attempts to follow other leads as the countdown continues.

The timeline is chronological with historical background information uncovered by the investigators provided as necessary to supplement the plot. The story inexorably races towards the climax; it is unclear who will remain alive, both among the law enforcement team and the country's leaders. Even in such circumstances, however, Drummond remains his wisecracking self, thus managing to frequently defuse the tension for the reader. And best of all, a lot of his asides and throwaway lines are not only really amusing but wonderfully insightful and totally apt. This story involves interesting political and philosophical considerations, but is primarily a psychology casebook involving a lot of fascinating discussion as the team tries to develop helpful insights. Are the strings being pulled by a clever psychopath, or just a team of very competent murderers/blackmailers? While readers may wonder if they are being subject to even more misdirection than the Feds, my conclusion is that the author provided a few fragmentary clues that hinted at the outline of the eventual outcome.

In summary, this is an enjoyable read, a wonderful thriller informed by the knowledge and detail which the author brings to the story. As is true of all of Haig's books, while the outcome is riveting, there are bittersweet elements to the plot. These stories don't end happily for everyone, even those who remain alive. The intensely emotional nature of the last chapter and especially the final few paragraphs certainly reveal the understandable toll that Sean's exploits have taken on him, and provide a truly poignant counterpoint to the violence and treachery which we have just witnessed. An exciting book, and while it is not quite my favorite of the series I understand how it might become yours.

Tucker Andersen

Master of the political thriller, Brian Haig, again mobilizes his acerbic, sarcastic, yet inevitably efficient U.S. Army JAG lawyer with a special forces background, Major Sean Drummond in the stirring "The President's Assassin". Drummond, on loan to the CIA is tagging along with FBI agents investigating a professionally accomplished massacre scene is the posh Washington D.C. suburbs. He is partnered with the attractive, tightly wrapped FBI special agent Jennifer Margold, Phd. in psychology and superstar of the Quantico Behavioral Sciences Unit.

Upon entering a McLean, Virginia mansion they discover a bloody scene already crawling with agents. Six corpses including the White House Chief of Staff, his wife and a four person Secret Service detail have all been dipatched in execution style. The murder scene also contained a note presumably from the perpetrators threatening the demise of the President within 48 hours. They also learn that a website had been created promising a payoff of $100 million to kill the President.

Drummond proves to be instrumental in analyzing the murder scene making Agent Margold look good to her boss Assistant Director George Meany, who happened to have been a rival for the affections for Drummond's main squeeze. The threat to the president heightens the response in every government agency.

Within short order White House spokesperson Merrill Benedict and Supreme Court justice Fineberg are killed in spectacular fashion using U.S. military issued weapons. Investigations conducted by Margold, ably aided by Drummond seem to point to young Secret Service agent Jason Barnes, presently unaccounted for. Barnes' father Richmond federal judge Calhoun Barnes, recently considered for a seat on the Supreme Court had shamefully been disgraced as they combed through his past. A motive had been established.

Drummond and Margold proceed to locate and thwart Barnes before his plans can come to fruition using psychological profiling to move in the right direction.

Haig, a talented writer falls a little short in presenting a convincing enough argument in identifying the bad guys in his novel. He is quite obviously setting us up for a twist as the novel concludes. The interplay between Drummond and Margold, which teems with both psychological and sexual conflict was very effectively portrayed.

This is the first of Haig's Sean Drummond series I have read. It is reasonably exciting and Haig does a good job of exploring the mindset of psychopathic killers. On that scale, I would have given it four stars but the book's weaknesses caused me to reduce my grade to three stars.

First, the "twist," whereby the villian is revealed seemed too obvious. Worse, Haig's sloppy inattention to detail was shameful. On more that one ocassion he explains that an FBI "SAC" is the "Senior Agent in Charge." Well, no it's not. "SAC" is the FBI's acronym for SPECIAL Agent in Charge. Worse still, Haig tells us that federal judges are appointed by state governors. Who knew? I wonder whether the United States Senate and the President are aware of this apparent change in the constituion? Finally, he states that there is no right of appeal from civil judgments, which, not to put too fine a point on it, is a curious proposition.

For some reason, although I follow approximately 50 authors, I had not read Brian Haig's work. Well, I corrected that after reading this book, I ordered all his previous works. No wonder I keep Amazon in business!

The reason this book captivated me is not only because of the nonstop action (although it was easy to figure 'who dunit'), is Haig's writing style is smooth and writes like Nelson DeMille, which ain't bad...

I will have to add Haig to my list. Which will make Amazon quite happy.

This is an excellent read and you almost cannot put it down it moves so quickly.

Worth the hardback -

Brian Haig has written some great books and this one is no exception. Our other favorite writers are Jonathan Kellerman, John Sanford, Stuart Woods... he's right up there with the best of them. I cannot wait until his next comes out. I'm insatiable!

Brian Haig continues his series of Sean Drummond books with the President's Assassin. It is not his best work, lacking some of the plot twists and excitement of some of his other books. However, it's still a great read. The dialogue is catchy and amusing, and his look at the political infighting during a crisis is well done, if not particularly new. If you like Brian Haig's earlier books, you'll like this one, too. If you didn't, well, you won't like this one either. And if you're new to Brian Haig, start with Secret Sanction or Mortal Allies.