The President's Assassin

January 10, 2005
Plenty of believable action plus heavy doses of insider atmosphere add zest to Haig's fifth suspense thriller to feature army lawyer Sean Drummond (after 2003's Private Sector
). It might be nothing like the real White House or even TV's The West Wing
, but the center of American power as envisioned by Haig is a potent myth, a modern-day Arthurian Round Table serving as a source of lessons and high drama. Now part of the CIA's Office of Special Projects, Drummond is assigned to protect the president against the enemies who threaten his life. The novel opens on a powerful note with the discovery in a posh suburban Virginia house of six bullet-ridden bodies, including that of the White House chief of staff. Could there be a connection between this massacre and the $100 million bounty someone has put on the head of the U.S. president? Helped by attractive, no-nonsense FBI agent Jennifer Margold, the wise-cracking Drummond first goes after a rogue member of the White House security detail, but things are not what they seem. After some serious shooting and explosions, Drummond and Margold are still only a day away from the likely murder of the president. Haig makes us care what happens by avoiding genre clichés whenever possible and by creating much sympathy for the relatives left behind in the carnage. Agent, Luke Janklow at Janklow & Nesbit.

October 15, 2004
The chief of staff is dead, and the President is supposed to be next. Naturally, army lawyer Sean Drummond is on the case.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2005
Sean Drummond, the JAG attorney whose crime-solving skills are almost matched by his ability to tick people off, has a new assignment: working for the Office of Special Projects, a CIA offshoot. Not long after his reassignment, Drummond is called to a murder scene where one of the six victims is the White House Chief of Staff and where a note was found in which the assassin threatens the life of the president. In this kind of thriller, the outcome isn't much of a mystery; it's how we get to the outcome that counts, and Haig leads us there through a series of plot twists, shortcuts, and dead ends that never fail to keep us on our toes. Haig is still developing as a novelist, and readers familiar with his previous books will note that Haig's appeal is no longer purely plot driven. Action is still his calling card, but his supporting characters are becoming more fleshed out, his dialogue smoother. The best Sean Drummond thriller has yet to be written, but this one is very good indeed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)