Reminded me of the TV show "Madam Secretary"

While looking into three bomb blasts across Europe, the Secretary of State Ellen Adams gets on the trail of someone within her own government who is acting to destabilise the US. She and the president dislike each other but must come together to uncover the truth.

It was a fast-paced interesting story.

I was surprised to find typos and editing issues in a print book though. I thought that those happened only with Kindle freebies. ( )

Terrorists

A colaboration on a political thriller that takes place in our current time. A bus has been blown up in Frankfurt, Paris and London. All bombs killing all the passengers and numerous people and property surrounding each sight. The key characters are the Secretary of State, her chief counselor and best friend, the Secretary of State?s children, the head of the armed forces and the president. An interesting and terrifying premise of discovering that the buses that were blown up were a precursor to three nuclear bombs planted in the USA.Kirkus: An award-winning author teams up with a former secretary of state to pen a thriller abouta fictional secretary of state.There are two types of people likely to pick up this book: those who enjoy thrillers and those looking for fresh insight into one of the most powerful political figures of the last 30 years. Neither is likely to be entirely pleased by this slow-moving tale. The setup is solid enough: Ellen Adams has just joined the new president?s administration when three Pakistani nuclear physicists are targeted by deadly explosions in London, Paris, and Frankfurt„an event that raises alarms about terrorists gaining possession of nuclear weapons. The first issue with this novel is that a secretary of state engages in a lot more talking than doing. The action, such as it is, occurs in scenes dominated by Adams? adult children, and this presents readers with another problem. Her son, Gil, gets off the bus one of the physicists is riding seconds before it blows up. He escapes because his mom gets a tip from a staffer and gives him a call, but the ultimate source of the tip is anonymous and Gil?s reasons for being on that bus are unclear„and these unknowns are complicated by the fact that he?s a convert to Islam and Islamic extremists are implicated in the attacks. Katherine, the secretary's media-executive daughter, not only travels with her mother as she jets around the world, but also helps out with a little light espionage. The authors are asking readers to believe that Adams? colleagues, her peers, and her boss„the president of the United States„are comfortable with her directing the American response to terrorist attacks in which her son was involved, nor do they stop her from treating a high-stakes global manhunt as Take Our Daughters to Work Day. This is all to say that sticking with the narrative means accepting that this is fantasy, not a revealing glimpse behind the curtain from Clinton. Indeed, it?s not hard to read many scenes as wish fulfillment. As the story progresses, Adams dispenses entirely with subtlety and discretion to dish out some no-holds-barred diplomacy. Adams also has a schoolteacher-turned-counselor named Betsy Jameson, a character based on Clinton?s real-life best friend, Betsy Ebeling. Betsy does some sleuthing, and her scenes will, perhaps, feel more familiar to Penny?s fans than the rest of the book. This cozy mystery element is just as fanciful as the rest, but there?s something satisfying about watching two middle-aged women save the world.More of a novelty for political nerds than a compelling thriller.

(2021) Even though Clinton gets top billing on the dust jacket, this is Penny's book. Her fingerpirnts are all over it and that is a good thing. She is the word crafter and this Clinton made an excellent choice as the ?co-author? unlike her husband who picked the hack James Patterson. Very readable and a standard pot-boiler thriller. Penny even works in her Gamache series characters and expressions to enhance the book.Kirkus:n award-winning author teams up with a former secretary of state to pen a thriller abouta fictional secretary of state.There are two types of people likely to pick up this book: those who enjoy thrillers and those looking for fresh insight into one of the most powerful political figures of the last 30 years. Neither is likely to be entirely pleased by this slow-moving tale. The setup is solid enough: Ellen Adams has just joined the new president's administration when three Pakistani nuclear physicists are targeted by deadly explosions in London, Paris, and Frankfurt„an event that raises alarms about terrorists gaining possession of nuclear weapons. The first issue with this novel is that a secretary of state engages in a lot more talking than doing. The action, such as it is, occurs in scenes dominated by Adams' adult children, and this presents readers with another problem. Her son, Gil, gets off the bus one of the physicists is riding seconds before it blows up. He escapes because his mom gets a tip from a staffer and gives him a call, but the ultimate source of the tip is anonymous and Gil's reasons for being on that bus are unclear„and these unknowns are complicated by the fact that he's a convert to Islam and Islamic extremists are implicated in the attacks. Katherine, the secretary's media-executive daughter, not only travels with her mother as she jets around the world, but also helps out with a little light espionage. The authors are asking readers to believe that Adams' colleagues, her peers, and her boss„the president of the United States„are comfortable with her directing the American response to terrorist attacks in which her son was involved, nor do they stop her from treating a high-stakes global manhunt as Take Our Daughters to Work Day. This is all to say that sticking with the narrative means accepting that this is fantasy, not a revealing glimpse behind the curtain from Clinton. Indeed, it's not hard to read many scenes as wish fulfillment. As the story progresses, Adams dispenses entirely with subtlety and discretion to dish out some no-holds-barred diplomacy. Adams also has a schoolteacher-turned-counselor named Betsy Jameson, a character based on Clinton's real-life best friend, Betsy Ebeling. Betsy does some sleuthing, and her scenes will, perhaps, feel more familiar to Penny's fans than the rest of the book. This cozy mystery element is just as fanciful as the rest, but there's something satisfying about watching two middle-aged women save the world.More of a novelty for political nerds than a compelling thriller.Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021ISBN: 978-1-982173-67-8Page Count: 320Publisher: Simon & Schuster/St. Martin's PressReview Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021

DNF
I was disappointed with this one. Some of the characters seemed a bit silly for such a heavy subject and there was a bit too much repetition for me. (e.g. a character who looked liked the Beaver's mom was referred to that way more than once). I couldn't get through it. Disappointing because I have enjoyed the Gamache series. I guess this wasn't my cup of tea. ( )