Executive Privilege

When young Oregon attorney Brad Miller constructs a routine appeal for a convicted serial killer, he comes to believe that one of the murders the killer was convicted of is actually unsolved. Meanwhile, a troubled P.I. on the East Coast asserts that the latest victim of an active killer dubbed the D.C. Ripper was a mistress of the President. The common thread: the President was once the Oregon governor. Narrator Jonathan Davis delivers the fast-paced action with a controlled punch. His unpretentious characterizations add credibility to the key players in the story, and his restraint conceals of the identity of the killer. Inconsistent pronunciation of geographic names may be annoying to Pacific Northwest listeners. But thanks to Davis's solid reading, this implausible story makes for entertaining listening. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

April 7, 2008
The U.S. president becomes a murder suspect in this over-the-top political thriller from bestseller Margolin (Proof Positive
). Young Oregon attorney Brad Miller stumbles on wrongdoing in high places while engaged in a routine pro bono case—the filing of an appeal for convicted serial killer Clarence Little. When Miller visits his client in jail, Little insists he's innocent of one murder, that of Laurie Erickson, a babysitter then in the employ of Oregon governor Christopher Farrington, who's since moved on to the White House. Miller finds evidence that someone killed Erickson to cover up her relationship with Farrington. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, PI Dana Cutler suspects that the latest victim of a serial killer known as the D.C. Ripper was also one of Farrington's mistresses. Some readers may wonder why someone trying to protect the president would dispose of his mistresses in a manner sure to attract plenty of attention.

June 2, 2008
What a concept: the President of the United States as a possible serial killer. And ace suspense writer Margolin pulls it off beautifully, with the help of narrator Jonathan Davis, who is the perfect choice to cool off a hot concept and make it human (as he did with Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash). Davis' fine third-person narration is matched by his performance as Dana Cutler, a beautiful and sharp D.C. private detective who is hired to follow a young college student who ends up dead after a secret meeting with president Charles Farrington. Davis also excels as an Oregon lawyer who is working on the Death Row appeal of a convicted killer. The inmate says he was framed for the murder of a teenager who, at the time of her death, worked for then-governor Farrington. A Harper hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 7).

September 1, 2008
What a concept: the President of the United States as a possible serial killer. And ace suspense writer Margolin pulls it off beautifully, with the help of narrator Jonathan Davis, who is the perfect choice to cool off a hot concept and make it human (as he did with Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash). Davis' fine third-person narration is matched by his performance as Dana Cutler, a beautiful and sharp D.C. private detective who is hired to follow a young college student who ends up dead after a secret meeting with president Charles Farrington. Davis also excels as an Oregon lawyer who is working on the Death Row appeal of a convicted killer. The inmate says he was framed for the murder of a teenager who, at the time of her death, worked for then-governor Farrington. A Harper hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 7).

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2008
Private detective Dana Cutler receives a seemingly routine assignment to follow a young girl working on a challengers campaign against the incumbent U.S. president. To Cutlers shock, she witnesses a rendezvous between the young woman and the president. The next morning the womans mutilated body is discovered, and Cutler is suddenly a suspect. How can she prove her innocence against someone who has the power of the presidency at his disposal? Meanwhile, an associate in a law firm in Portland, Oregon, gets assigned the appeal of a serial killer on death row. The convicted felon claims he didnt kill one of the victimsa young woman who was working for the state governor at the timethe same man who is now president. Could the president be a serial killer? Both story lines collide in this pulse-pounding thriller from genre veteran Margolin. Expect plenty ofbuzz for this one as a result of both the intriguing premise and the well-wrought narrative.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)