Pike Island

Pike Island is a political mystery set in Washington DC and Minnesota. It is about a young rising congressman from Minnesota whose shadowy past threatens to end his career and his future shot at the presidency. It was published on November 1, 2024.

The publisher's summary:  

Andrew Harrison “Harry” Leonard is destined for politics. Getting his start on the Rochester City Council, he quickly rose to become the youngest representative in Congress. Now the up-and-comer from Minnesota is on the brink of something big. If all goes well, he’ll be in perfect position to aim for the presidency.

Then a postcard arrives, blank except for the name on the address: Andy Leonard. Harry hasn’t used that name since high school. Krista Walsh, Harry’s chief of staff, recognizes his old moniker, and when he dodges questions about it, she wonders what he’s trying to hide. She soon discovers the lake pictured on the postcard holds secrets too.

Krista’s investigation into Harry’s past uncovers the truth of what happened one fateful teenage summer. But as disturbing details come to light, how far will Krista go to keep Harry’s career—and her own—headed to the top?

This story is told in an alternating format with one plot dated back 20 years ago and the other in the current time period. I must admit the subplot from 20 years ago was more interesting than the present where Congressman Leonard and his staff set about covering up something he was involved in after high school graduation. Shortly after their high school graduation Harry Leonard and his three best friends went on a weeklong vacation to friend Jake Nelson's family lake house on Cedar Lake. Along with Harry, known as Andy at the time, and Jake were Ryan and Seth. This foursome had no real plans for the week other than drinking, boating and sunning. Their curiosity got the better of them when they decided to sail to Pike Island which had been uninhabited during its entire history.

Jake tells his buddies about an old abandoned mansion on the island that had been built by a wealthy man who died before he could move in. The mystery surrounding the home included lore about furniture being delivered there as well as clothing in the closets. One room had several pairs of children's shoes neatly lined up. However, the owner had never married or had kids. The teens' immaturity and drunkeness sent them to the island but they were stopped by a MN Department of Natural Resources cop who questioned them. Officer Schroeder let them go with a warning not to encroach on the island. However, they did just that and regretted it later.  

It seemed like Andy was the main character in the early plot but I feel that it was Jake. The mystery surrounding the island is revealed by him and he was in control of the vacation because the teens were lodging at his family's home. Also, his character brought us the mystery surrounding the hate mail Andy's Congressional office was receiving. Jake is furious with Andy over what Andy did on that island. Andy's actions are the basis of both subplots and it was a riveting tale that kept me reading the story.

Seth and Ryan don't play much of a role in the plot. Jake, Andy and Andy/Harry's chief of staff Krista are the prominent characters that pushed the story forward. The mystery of what happened on the island is slowly revealed by Krista’s investigation into her boss. She did some internet and library research as well as interviewing the other three teens, now adults. Her reaction to what she discovered is classic Washington. I liked her much more at the end of the book. 

I enjoyed reading this novel and am rating it 4 out of 5 stars. While the mystery was entertaining I don't feel that it is a thriller which it is advertised as being. 

Never

Ken Follett is well known for his historical fiction tomes but in this new novel he has given us a political thriller that takes place in Chad, Beijing, Pyongyang, Soeul, North Africa, the Middle East and Washington DC.  It is about the beginning of WWIII and is narrated by several characters: Paulette Green is the U. S. President, Chang Kai is a Chinese spy for Homeland Security, Tamara Levit works for the CIA at the American Embassy in N'Djamena, Chad, Kiah is a Chad citizen, and Abdul also works for the CIA as he travels throughout the Middle East. Within the book's 804 pages the author aims to show us how WWIII can start without any one nation actually escalating any of its military activities.

The publisher's summary:

A shrinking oasis in the Sahara Desert; a stolen US Army drone; an uninhabited Japanese island; and one country's secret stash of deadly chemical poisons: all these play roles in a relentlessly escalating crisis. Struggling to prevent the outbreak of world warfare a young woman intelligence officer; a spy working undercover with jihadists; a brilliant Chinese spymaster; and Pauline herself, beleaguered by a populist rival for the next presidential election.  Never . . . is full of heroines and villains, false prophets and elite warriors, jaded politicians and opportunistic revolutionaries. It brims with cautionary wisdom for our times, and delivers a visceral, heartpounding read that transports readers to the brink of the unimaginable. 

I expected alot from this novel given the author's reputation. However, I found that parts of the book were a little dull. It started out well and ended with a bang but the middle was excruciatingly slow. I think if Follett cut the page count by one third this would have been a fantastic read. The parts that I feel are dull have scenes that show the foreign policy of several nations in action. It reflects on their ability to act diplomatically in a crisis which is important for Follett to show whether war is escalating. However, it was boring. Certainly these subplots could have been written more skillfully.

The Chad setting was deftly handled. I could feel the effects of the high temperature even though I am currently freezing in my hometown. The poverty and starvation of the people was portrayed adroitly. Their sense of grief was captured perfectly and I felt so bad about their predicament. The choices they had for survival were dim.

The politics of the U.S. and China were displayed well. Here the reader learns what goes on behind the scenes when nations are determining what course of action to take in a given moment of time. Faulty ideas, and some correct ones too, regarding why world leaders will react in a particular way is dramatized toward the end of the story and gives the novel it's suspenseful ending. 

Follett achieved his goal of showing how war can be escalated by countries without officially escalating their military activities. That was magnificent and gives pause to readers. The boring bits were unfortunate. 3 out of 5 stars.

Murder on the Metro

Who do you think wrote Murder on the Metro? Margaret Truman? Jon Land? The Estate of Margaret Truman owns the copyright on the novel. She, of course, has been dead for over 10 years. Is the Estate licensing her name to make money? I don't know how this works but I do not believe that she wrote or plotted this novel. I guess it doesn't matter much as it was a fabulous read.

The story begins with a busy day. A drone killed people in a terrorist attack in Caesarea, Israel, an American vice president died of an apparent heart attack and a former spook thwarted a suicide bomber on Washington DC's Metro. There is a connection between all three of these events and the pursuit of the truth leads to the highest echelons of power in Washington. Israel's Lia Ganz and American Robert Brixton work as fast as possible to prevent millions of Americans from dying in a catastrophe that will change the U. S. forever.

The Washington DC setting is very familiar to me. I have visited there on countless occasions so I understand how secrets work. The author was able to harness his knowledge of the same with a bit of suspense too. The chapters are short, mostly 2 pages, making the pace seem super fast. 

The main characters of the Capitol Crimes series are MacKenzie and Annabelle Smith. However, their roles in this story are minimal. They were basically secondary characters. As a regular reader of the series this did not seem normal to me. Israeli agent Lia Ganz and former State Department employee Robert Brixton take the Smith's place in Murder on the Metro. Both are great characters, though, at times I felt that I was reading a Brad Thor novel. The elements of a spy thriller are all on display here. Not that this is bad. It just wasn't what I expected from a Margaret Truman novel. Her writing showed more insight into why Washingtonians behave the way they do and her plots were different than the typical spy thriller. 

The book is unputdownable and all mystery lovers will enjoy reading it. 5 out of 5 stars.

The President is Missing

Former President Bill Clinton co-authored this political mystery with James Patterson. It is eerily similar to Clinton's presidency.

The synopsis from the publisher:

"As an unprecedented cyberterrorist attack cripples the United States, the president must face an unthinkable truth:

There is a traitor in the White House.
His life is in danger.

And the only way to stay ahead of the shadowy forces tearing at the heart of America is to go off grid, leaving behind his presidential protection. The president must go missing and he may never resurface... Set over the course of three days that shake a nation to its core, The President is Missing
sheds a stunning light on the inner workings and vulnerabilities of the American government."

I expected alot from this book. I heard many friends say they couldn't wait to read it. If I was using my brain I would have realized that no one said anything else about the book.  At the midway point in reading this novel I read a few reviews of it because I was disappointed with it. Most of the reviews were negative. It finally clicked in my brain that the problem was the plot.

In The President is Missing there is something that never happens...the president never goes missing. Why this title was chosen is a conundrum.  The main character, the president, was basically Bill Clinton. This president faced an impeachment, was the former governor of a small southern state, met his wife in the law library at Yale law school, hired his best friend whom he met in kindergarten to work for him in the White House and failed to capture a foreign terrorist. As these details about the character unfolded, I was disappointed. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it just wasn't creative to use the author's background for a character.

The plot wasn't believable. First of all, I kept waiting for the president to disappear. Second, there were several groups of commandos shooting characters and I couldn't tell who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. The story was confusing. Third, there is no way in hell the Secret Service would allow a president to go off grid and meet someone who is probably a terrorist without protection. In the book the president orders the Secret Service to not follow him and also orders his physician to not treat him for an illness which is about to kill him because the drugs he needs will cloud his judgment.

The story was written with suspense to keep you reading. While I was bored and disappointed at the halfway point, I kept thinking that there was more to this story than I could see. Also, with the synopsis telling me that there is a traitor in the White House, I expected to read about this traitor early in the book. The reader doesn't read about it until the conclusion of the story. Why the build up in the media about a traitor when there's no build up in the story? Finally, it would have been nice for the authors to have written a Note to the Reader describing their writing collaboration.  Who contributed what? I wonder how much writing Clinton contributed to the novel, if any. 

A Body in Barcelona

A Body in Barcelona is the 5th Max Camara Novel but the first one that I have read. It is a police detective novel set in Valencia, Spain but is categorized as a political thriller by the publisher.

The murder of a prominent businessman's young son did not occur until 70 pages into the book.  Setting descriptions abounded before the crime occurred. This overwhelmed me because they were about the police divisions in Spain and the Spanish language was used to describe the names of all of the divisions. Throughout the book I kept forgetting who was who. Place names, street names, district names were also all in Spanish. Spanish words were thrown in the book here and there. I don't speak Spanish so it was difficult for me to follow the plot. I tried to find a map to determine where each locale was at but couldn't find the right map. Location seemed important when cities are culturally divided in half, i.e., one part Spanish and one part Morrocan.

There was much writing about the current state of political affairs in Spain and in the EU. Since I am totally unfamiliar with their politics I kept wondering what part of it was true, if any. I didn't know what to believe. In essence, my lack of knowledge about Spain and various EU political departments made it hard to follow the story. The author presumes the reader can follow along. The mystery part of the book did begin moving around page 125 but the above problems handicapped my ability to understand the book. Each time the story started moving for me the author threw in a Spanish word and I could not understand the sentence. It was frustrating.

The author grew up in the UK and lived in Spain for several years so I believe that this book was written for Europeans. Also, I have to wonder if it would have been an easier read if I had begun reading the series with the first book.  I became so frustrated with the book I skipped about 100 pages to get to the end just to find out why the boy was killed. I still don't know due to the Spanish words that were occasionally used.

I don't quite know how to rate the book. It might be a great book for someone who speaks Spanish and is familiar with Spain. For me, it was a 0. Yes, 0 out of 5 stars. My first 0 rated book.