The Abduction

March 30, 1998
The presidential election of 2000 is coming down to the wire in this disappointing thriller, when Democratic candidate (and attorney general) Allison Leahy blows a solid lead by refusing to answer the question whether she's ever been unfaithful to her husband. Just as Republican candidate Lincoln Howe (read: Colin Powell) is about to pull ahead, his granddaughter is kidnapped. Leahy's own newly adopted baby daughter was the victim of a similar crime eight years earlier. Are the abductions linked? Is someone connected to either of the candidates responsible? Those are the questions that never quite propel Grippando's latest, after The Informant. While that novel had a strong narrative engine fueled by insider information on the FBI, this one never hits second gear. Neither Leahy nor Howe seems a particularly worthy candidate or likable person, and the possible villains--an ex-boyfriend, a pair of conniving campaign managers, Leahy's tough businessman husband--are equally flat and unconvincing. Author tour.

James Grippando's latest thriller interweaves the mysterious abduction of a young girl with the political strife of a presidential election campaign. Allison Janney performs the role of U.S. Attorney General and presidential candidate Allison Leahy with all the determination and confidence necessary for a woman in her position. With her deep, Kathleen Turner-ish voice, Janney doesn't need to stretch too far to portray the Southern, African-American political opponent, General Lincoln Howe. Janney's dramatization involves the listeners to such a degree that we feel Allison's desperation as time is running out for her to find and save the young girl and confront her own painful past. K.M.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

December 2, 1997
A U.S. attorney general running for president must deal with the kidnapping of an opponent's granddaughter.

February 15, 1998
It's the year 2000, and U.S. Attorney General Allison Leahy is the country's first female presidential candidate. When opponent Lincoln Howe's granddaughter, Kristen, is kidnapped, Leahy--whose own daughter was abducted eight years earlier--is torn between her political advisors, who tell her to stay far away from the investigation, and her memories of her own tragedy. Was Kristen's kidnapping orchestrated by Leahy's people, or did the orders come from Lincoln Howe's camp? Who's being manipulated, and who's doing the manipulating? Readers won't know until the final, genuinely surprising moments. This is a gripping (and frightening) story about the Machiavellian world of American politics--not quite on the level of classics such as Robert Penn Warren's "All the King's Men," but, in places, very close. Libraries should give this title, Grippando's third political thriller (after "The Pardon," 1994, and "The Informant," 1996), a prominent position in their new-releases sections; it's sure to be in demand. ((Reviewed February 15, 1998))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1998, American Library Association.)