Publishers Weekly
When Lincoln Bowe, a controversial Republican ex-senator, disappears at the start of this fast-paced thriller from bestseller Sandford (Broken Prey), the White House puts Jacob Winter, a veteran political operative with "an uncanny ability to navigate the world of bureaucracy," on the case. Bowe vanished shortly after making a fiery speech denouncing a rival, Arlo Goodman, the governor of Virginia and a demagogue who heads a volunteer militia group known as the Watchmen. When Bowe's burnt and headless corpse turns up, Winter is under even more pressure to discover those behind his murder. Aided by the dead man's attractive and possibly duplicitous widow, Madison, the fixer follows a trail of corpses and deception that suggests the killing may have been a staged piece of theater intended to derail Goodman's ascent to the presidency. Readers interested in a quick diverting romp without much gravitas will enjoy this, but serious Beltway fiction junkies might prefer their political thrillers to be a little more plausible. 500,000 announced first printing. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Chief investigator at the White House, Jacob Winter knows things are bad when a senator's disappearance sends his wife on the run as well. With a ten-city tour. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
The disappearance of a high-profile politician lights the fuse in Sandford's latest high-octane, low-logic thriller. Even after losing the Virginia governor's race to Arlo Goodman and then losing his Senate seat to an undistinguished Goodman protege, Lincoln Bowe has kept right on speaking out against Goodman and all his works-especially the Watchmen, a network of Goodman's citizen-activists Bowe likens to neo-Nazis. Now Bowe has vanished after a typically fiery speech, gone missing in the company of some suits who spirited him away. Madison Bowe, his wife, is convinced that Watchmen were inside those suits. Bill Danzig, the president's chief of staff, isn't so sure. But he is convinced that whatever happened to Bowe, the story is explosive. Attempting to stay ahead of its developments, Danzig calls in Jacob Winter, a go-to guy with a Special Forces pedigree who bills himself as a forensic bureaucrat, and tells him to find Bowe. Jake is too late to help Bowe, who's already dead. But he may not be too late to contain an improbable cascade of scandals that hover around Bowe and threaten to bring down the president. In order to do his job, though, Jake will need to stay out of the lethal crossfire between the armed and dangerous Watchmen and Bowe's own friends, allies and ex-lovers, who turn out to be every bit as shady, determined and ruthless. In the expert hands of Sandford (Broken Prey, 2005, etc.), the story flies along, keeping the action at such a furious pace, even without a high body count, that few readers will notice the glaring coincidences, the leaps of logic and the monumental good luck Jake needs to succeed as detective, lover (you'll never guess who he falls for) andsurvivor. Not as tightly woven as Sandford's best, but reliable thrills with some unexpected political overtones from a pro's pro.
AUG/SEP 06 - AudioFile
Richard Ferrone has performed almost all of John Sandford’s books. Here he’s cast as Jake Winter, special assistant to the president’s chief of staff, who is investigating the gruesome death of an outspoken U.S. senator. Ferrone has several strengths, and you can tell he gets into his characters. He also knows how to ratchet up the excitement, which is especially important as Sandford starts all of his action sentences with verbs. Jake Winter is a welcome addition to the author’s cast of characters. One hopes that Winter will join Sandford’s other protagonists--Lucas Davenport, Kidd, and the “Night Crew”--and become a Sandford regular. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
