Eric Van Lustbader

When President-Elect Edward Carson's 19 year old daughter, Alli, is kidnapped just one month before his inauguration ceremony, he implores his friend, ATF agent Jack McClure, to help find her. Jack must deal with a multitude of obstacles during the desperate search for Alli and her kidnapper, including his own dyslexia, a current president who doesn't appear to want Jack to succeed, and the anguish he feels over the recent death of his own daughter.

First Daughter captures its reader from the show more first few paragraphs. The story starts off with a bang, and continues with a fast pace and a tightly woven plot. As Jack searches for Alli, we catch glimpses of his past. It not only adds depth to his character, but also adds another element of surprise and anticipation. There are many political and religious questions addressed throughout the book. It would have been easy to turn this otherwise solid book into a monologue of what the author believes, but it doesn't read that way at all. Instead, it allows the reader to ask themselves how they feel about the concept of the separation of church and state in the United States. It's certainly a timely topic considering the state of the government today.

What Lustbader does best, in my opinion, is develop the character of Jack McClure. If, as I would imagine, this turns into a series, it'll be all the better because we've already been introduced to Jack and have shared his secrets and fears. Imagine a dyslexic Jack Bauer with a little bit of Alex Cross and a dash of Jack Ryan, and you'll get a sense of Jack McClure. He's made all the more human through his flaws, and it's what, I think, people will love about him. show less

When Alli Carson, the president-elect Edward Carson’s daughter, is kidnapped, her parents are frantic to do anything to get her back. They call on agent Jack McClure, Carson’s old friend, to rescue Alli. Jack has recently lost his daughter Emma in a car accident - and Alli Carson was Emma’s best friend, making him even more determined to save her. As Jack attempts to solve the case, he can’t escape memories from his past as they combine with his current situation to make his mission show more urgent and his reconciliations emotional and compelling.

This is definitely a thriller. The opening prologue is intense, and reveals to the reader some of the outcome, but then ends on a cliffhanger that left me wanting the answers. Instead, we get a trip into the past, both Jack’s personal past and the origins of the case that he is set to solve. At first this is frustrating, but then the storylines pick up and the book races by. The clues all come together and the outcome is very satisfying. In the process, I found myself getting very attached to Jack. He is dyslexic and so is one of my closest friends; I could recognize their joint frustration and that made me feel for him even more. Beyond that, I could recognize his distress at his lost daughter from my own observations, and his determination that his friends not suffer the same pain. If he couldn’t save Emma, he’d do his best to save her best friend. He’s both skilled and dedicated, which makes for a very powerful story and does lift this book above the range of the typical thriller, adding in a human element. His recollections of the past both touch the reader and power the main narrative along, as one couldn’t do without the other.

Another thread that intrigued me in this narrative was Lustbader’s alternate future, where the government has become entirely conservative Christian and is determined to stay that way. As a result, underground atheist factions have popped up, ready to show the world that those who don’t follow organized religions aren’t bad people and in fact are logical, not crazed killers like the government has claimed. Unfortunately, these men are blamed for Alli’s kidnapping, which results in some interesting political manuevering as well.

I enjoyed this book. It has a solid, exciting narrative, relatable characters, and diverse settings. I’d recommend it for anyone looking for a great read, not just those who already enjoy political thrillers. I’m not normally a reader of them, but I’m very glad I read this book. It will be released on August 19th, 2008.

For an author interview, see my blog post at http://chikune.com/blog/?p=156 show less

This was an an odd book. It is ostensibly a post-apocalyptic adventure, but the standard social tropes get quickly overwhelmed by bizarre timing, broken dialog and an utterly opaque main character.

Over if the things I found hardest to get my head around was the use of immediate flash forwards-a scene will end, then jump to action happening apparently somewhat later, and then jump back in a page or two to fill in the gap.l, showing there was really only a couple of hours difference. Why?

Then show more there's the dialogue. It's a jumbled mess, at times, where characters are unable to make sentences, and speakers are unmarked, creating utter confusion.

And yet the action is tense, and the world is just unusual enough to remain interesting. It's a fun, if often confusing, sword and sorcery meets Wool kind of book. show less

I’ll be the first person to admit that political thrillers are far from my genre of choice – typically I stick more towards the fantasy and sci-fi end of the fiction spectrum. But I’ll also be the first to tell you that Eric Van Lustbader’s latest book was pleasantly surprising in the way it kept me involved to the point where I was on the edge of my metaphoric seat the whole time.

The Nemesis Manifesto features a whole cast of wonderfully written and engaging characters but focuses show more its efforts on the enigmatic Evan Ryder, a slightly jaded and incredibly intelligent operative for an unnamed arm of the DOD. When we first meet Evan, she has been called in by her boss for a special assignment that has led more than one fine agent to their death. Now, with the pressure mounting and the stakes higher than ever, Evan must discover who the nefarious and deadly Nemesis is before its kill list can be completed. It’s a race against time as Evan fights not only unseen forces but also her own fractured memories, which tell her there might be more to this Nemesis than she – or anyone else – anticipated.

Although the prologue started off a little slow to me and was subsequently hard for me to get into, the rest of the book overall was a fantastic thrill ride packed full of adventure and intrigue. In every chapter lies a new mystery, an exciting twist, or a heart-pounding action sequence. There are well over a handful of key players in the book, all of which have separate but interconnecting plotlines – and their own agendas. I think under ordinary circumstances, this would be quite confusing to read, but somehow Van Lustbader succeeds in making all of these individual and intricate characters and their plotlines surprisingly clear and easy to follow. Van Lustbader is equally successful in his ability to make long conversations about politics and government engaging rather than droll. Add this to the fact that Evan, the very definition of calm, cool, and collected – not to mention effective – is a female operative (even Van Lustbader throws in a time or two that female operatives have been sorely underused) who always seems to be ten steps ahead of the opposition is the star character and you have a winner on your hands for sure. I can’t say that I enjoyed all the female operatives. I found Brenda rather exasperating both for her inability to see the bigger picture and her foolhardy decision to soldier on when that was clearly the wrong choice. But I was easily able to overlook that fact because of how interesting the other characters were.

The Nemesis Manifesto was gripping and thrilling, with unexpected elements, plot twists, relevant politics, and plenty of betrayals. Even if political thrillers aren’t normally your thing, I highly recommend giving it a fair shot – you might be surprised.

*I received an ARC from BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review show less