First Daughter

June 2, 2008
In this uneven thriller from bestseller Lustbader (The Bourne Legacy
), Alli Carson, the 19-year-old daughter of the U.S. president-elect, moderate Republican Edward Carson, is abducted a month before her father's inauguration to be programmed to do something truly terrible at the inauguration ceremony. ATF agent Jack McClure is chosen to lead the search for Alli, primarily because she was the boarding-school roommate of his now-deceased daughter, Emma. Jack faces many difficulties, chief among them his own severe dyslexia. The unnamed current president, who makes religion the basis for all his decisions, wants to use the search as an excuse for all-out war on his enemies, the First American Secular Revivalists and their secret partners, the E-Two terrorist group. Lustbader does a fine job depicting the search for Alli and reconstructing Jack's past, but the confusing political message will leave many readers wondering what the book was really about.

Alli Carson, 19-year-old daughter of President-Elect Edward Carson, has Graves' disease. When she's kidnapped a month before Carson's presidential inauguration, her need for medicine makes her abduction all the more serious, and Carson contacts ATF Agent Jack McClure to find her. Narrator Richard Ferrone's versatile vocal range and skill are a good match for this suspenseful story. His textured characterizations capture Alli's na•veté and her growing fear of her captors, as well as her frequent hypnosis sessions. He also characterizes Alli's foreign abductors with believable accents and depicts the calculating genius behind it all with credibility. With careful pacing and understatement, Ferrone blends action and suspense to produce an unforgettable thriller. G.D.W. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

November 1, 2008
In this latest thriller by Lustbader (www.ericvanlustbader.com), author of the best-selling Jason Bourne series, the daughter of the U.S. President-elect is kidnapped, and special agent Jack McClure, whose own daughter died in an accident, suspects the kidnapper is an especially vicious serial killer. While the quest for the missing girl is exciting, the author's focus on religious extremism and its opponents muddies the plot, and the dialog is rather wooden. Still, the narration by Richard Ferrone ("The Good Guy"), who's read for authors including Mickey Spillane and Stuart Woods, secures his reputation as one of the best interpreters of thrillers. Recommended for popular collections. [Audio clip available through us.macmillan.com; the Forge hc, published in August, was a "New York Times" best seller.Ed.]Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr. Lib.

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