Synopsis (from
the publisher):
Jack McClure, Special Advisor and closest friend to the new President
of the United States, interprets the world very differently from the
rest of us. It’s his greatest liability, and his greatest asset.
An American senator, supposedly on a political trip to the Ukraine,
turns up dead on the island of Capri. When the President asks him to
find out how and why, Jack sets out from Moscow across Eastern Europe,
following a perilous trail of diplomats, criminals, and corrupt
politicians. Thrust into the midst of a global jigsaw puzzle,
Jack’s unique dyslexic mind allows him to put together the pieces
that others can’t even see.
Still unreconciled to the recent death of his daughter and the
dissolution of his marriage, Jack takes on a personal mission along
with his official one: keeping safe from harm his two unlikely,
unexpected, and incompatible companions—Annika Dementieva, a
rogue Russian FSB agent, and Alli Carson, the President’s
daughter. As he struggles to keep both young women safe and unearth the
answers he seeks, hunted by everyone from the Russian mafia to the
Ukrainian police to his own NSA, Jack learns just how far up the
American and Russian political ladders corruption and treachery has
reached.
— ◊ —
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Last Snow
A Jack
McClure Mystery
Eric
Van Lustbader
Forge (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-7653-2515-2 (0765325152)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-2515-0 (9780765325150)
Publication Date: February 2010
List Price: $25.99
— ◊ —
Review: Former
ATF Agent, now advisor to the President, Jack McClure investigates the
murder of the minority whip in Congress in Last Snow, the second mystery in
this series by Eric Van Lustbader.
McClure is accompanying the President to Moscow for the historic
signing of a security agreement between Russia and the United States
when he learns that Senator Lloyd Berns has died, his body found on the
Isle of Capri. Though the death is shocking, the location of the body
is even more surprising: Berns was supposed to be in the Ukraine on a
political assignment for the President. While the President returns to
the US, McClure is tasked with discovering what led Berns from the
Ukraine to the Isle of Capri, and the circumstances surrounding his
death -- more specifically, was it accidental or intentional. The
President's daughter, Alli, the target of a kidnapping that was
thwarted by McClure (the plot of the first book in the series, First Daughter), insists on
accompanying him as does Annika, an agent with the Russian Federal
Security Bureau. Together, they travel from Moscow through Eastern
Europe facing deception, violence, and murder.
Last Snow is a
compelling sequel to First Daughter,
this time incorporating international political intrigue into the
fast-paced plot. (It should be noted that it isn't necessary to have
read the previous book to enjoy this one.) Jack McClure is a likeable,
well-developed character who has dyslexia; rather than being hampered
by this learning disorder, he has embraced it, picturing letters in his
mind as three-dimensional images and extending that ability to "read"
people and calculate situational risk. The descriptive settings add to
the appeal, providing a dramatic backdrop to the exciting situations
into which the three characters (McClure, Alli, and Annika) are drawn.
Readers may be tempted to complete this above average thriller in one
setting.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Last Snow and to Authors on the Web for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Last Snow? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
First Daughter
Forge (Hardcover), August 2008
ISBN-10: 0-7653-2170-X (076532170X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-2170-1 (9780765321701)
Last Snow
Forge (Hardcover), February 2010
ISBN-10: 0-7653-2515-2 (0765325152)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-2515-0 (9780765325150)
Omnimystery keywords for Last Snow ...
Location(s) referenced: Moscow, Russia, Kiev, Ukraine.
