First Family: 4 (King & Maxwell) - Softcover

Baldacci, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0446539740 ISBN 13: 9780446539746

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2010

Synopsis

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, a child is kidnapped at a presidential retreat and two former Secret Service agents must become private investigators in a desperate search that might destroy them both.

A daring kidnapping turns a children's birthday party at Camp David, the presidential retreat, into a national security nightmare.

Former Secret Service agents turned private investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell don't want to get involved. But years ago Sean saved the First Lady's husband, then a senator, from political disaster. Now the president's wife presses Sean and Michelle into a desperate search to rescue a kidnapped child. With Michelle still battling her own demons, the two are pushed to the limit, with forces aligned on all sides against them-and the line between friend and foe impossible to define...or defend.

About this title

Product Description:

Following the instant #1 New York Times bestsellers Split Second, Hour Game, and Simple Genius, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell return in David Baldacci's most heart-pounding thriller to date . . . FIRST FAMILY A daring kidnapping turns a children's birthday party at Camp David, the presidential retreat, into a national security nightmare. Former Secret Service agents turned private investigators, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell don't want to get involved. But years ago Sean King saved the First Lady's husband, then a senator, from political disaster. Now the president's wife presses Sean and Michelle into a desperate search to rescue a kidnapped child. With Michelle still battling her own demons, the two are pushed to the limit, with forces aligned on all sides against them--and the line between friend and foe impossible to define . . . or defend.

Review:

In adroitly written novels such as Absolute Power and Saving Faith, David Baldacci has long established himself as one of the most accomplished and imaginative crime writers at work today – and it’s a particularly fecund field at present. With his latest novel, First Family, he adds even more lustre to his reputation -- and tackles surprising new areas of characterisation and plot. The setting is the haunts of the powerful: the upper echelons of the political class.

A birthday party at the presidential retreat Camp David takes a nasty turn when a child is abducted after the party has finished. The First Lady needs the very best to help in this dangerous situation – and who better than top operatives Sean King and Michelle Maxwell to track down the child? (Baldacci enthusiasts will know his reliable protagonists from earlier novels). However, the First Lady and Sean King have had dealings before: he was instrumental in saving her husband (then a senator) from a very unhappy situation... and perhaps their involvement was more than political. Michelle Maxwell, as we know from earlier books by this author, is a woman with her own major problems, and everyone involved in the events of First Family will emerge chastened and changed from an incendiary situation.

As in his earlier books, David Baldacci is notably sharp at the cross-currents of tension within a family (while never forgetting pressing external threats). In the new book, he has the reader caught up in a spectacular and disturbing narrative, with the involvement of the most important family in America adding piquancy to an already gripping piece of writing. --Barry Forshaw

About this edition

• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0446539740
• ISBN 13: 9780446539746
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 656