First Daughter

Eric Van Lustbader’s new novel, First Daughter is a philosophical book disguised as a suspense thriller. Jack McClure is an ATF agent, trying to cope with the death of his only child, and the breakup of his marriage. He is dyslexic and his whole life has struggled with the humiliation of keeping this a secret. His dyslexia has allowed his brain to perceive of unique patterns and has given him an ability to see the world in different ways, leading him to become one of the ATF’s top agents. Jack receives a call from an old friend, Edward Carson, asking his help in finding his kidnapped daughter, Allie. The case is complicated by the fact that Carson is the President-elect and due to be inaugurated in just a few weeks time. Even though show more the novel is ostensibly about the search and recovery of Allie, it deftly incorporates themes of faith and redemption, as well as highlighting the secular constitutional issues of today’s politics.

This is the first time I’ve read a novel by this author, and I’ve been really missing out on something good. The book is fast paced, with a fascinating portrayal of a man who’s lost everything except his career. His whole life, Jack has worked hard and made his career his top priority, and then in an instant, he learned just how skewed his priorities had become. This theme of the book rang true; too often we have to lose what’s the most important to us to notice how valuable it was. I was fascinated by the author’s depiction of Allie’s captivity. The psychological manipulation the kidnapper used on his victim was yet another realistic and well-written aspect of the novel.

Van Lustbader doesn’t shy from asking the “big” questions either. Faith is a large part of this novel. Cogent arguments are made for both the necessity of religious faith and the more pragmatic approach of a moral secularism. Morality itself is often addressed; where one man finds a compelling sense of moral obligation, another will see despicable manipulation. Often the author manages to warn us of political and religious agendas that are in direct opposition to a truly Constitutional form of government, all the while staying well within the boundaries of good story telling.

Pick up a copy, it’s a worthwhile read! show less

This novel can be aptly described as a train wreck. There are so many things wrong with it that’s it’s hard to know where to begin. For one thing, there are many poorly drawn characters, most notably the President, Hugh Garner, the Secretary of State, the First Daughter, and the story’s villain. Yes, that’s quite a list. They share traits such as not resembling actual human beings, not having believable motivations, and being inconsistent in their actions. Needless to say, characterization was not a strong suit here.

Neither was pace. The novel had overly long flashbacks that took away from the flow of the novel. The whole part about the President trying to wipe out the American secularist movement was just weak. But of all the show more things that were poorly done, the novel’s biggest shortcoming was the lack of believability. Almost everything that happened made me shake my head. There was just nothing plausible, and some of the events were down right laughable. I can’t say there was much that I liked here. I would strongly suggest avoiding this novel.

Carl Alves – author of The Invocation show less

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 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 show more 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 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 show more 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

When President-Elect Edward Carson’s nineteen-year-old daughter Alli is kidnapped, he calls on his old friend ATF Agent Jack McClure to get Alli back. Jack’s own daughter Emma, who died just six months previously in a car accident, was Alli’s roommate at college. The current President, an evil incarnation of George W. Bush, is still in charge however, and uses the kidnapping as an excuse to crack down on an atheist group he manages to blame for the abduction.

As the hunt proceeds to find Alli, we learn more about the outgoing President and his administration, who Jack is, and who the kidnapper is. We hear arguments for and against the freedom to have atheistic thoughts, and we learn about plots all around to make sure the religious show more orientation imposed by the previous administration will not be vitiated by the incoming administration.

And we race, along with Jack, to find Alli before either the kidnapper kills her, or the mysterious people chasing Jack kill him.

Discussion: I felt like this book was written by a committee, or by someone with multiple personalities. At times it was clever and witty. At times, when the author was channeling George Pelecanos (particularly with the story of Jack's friend and mentor Gus), it got quite readable and even heart-warming. It was certainly suspenseful. But quite often, it was simply over the top: e.g., cold-hearted killer keeps viper in the kitchen cupboard and gets off on feeding it live rats (doesn’t say “bwahaha” but is probably thinking it); the Homeland Security First Deputy does his own torturing – of people he knows are innocent, no less; dead daughter Emma appears now and then to Jack and once even saves her dad’s life; dad can see dead people, by the way, because he’s dyslexic (ha ha! And you thought dyslexia was just about reading!).

The author included some astute social commentary on the "new conservative" movement (i.e., as defined by historian Eric Foner, those who combine the desire to have government expelled from the economy with a desire to have it regulate personal behavior, in order to restore a Christian morality they see as growing weaker and weaker in American society.) But then he vitiates his own case by taking it (once again) over the top, and turning all of these conservatives into idiotic zealots or immoral psychos.

Moreover, the wives in this book are a bit bizarre. Jack’s wife, at Emma’s funeral, "howls" to the priest, “There is no God!” Not very probable, but then the next thing you know she is practically born again. Until something else happens… (There is a God! There isn’t! There is! There isn’t!) She’s sort of a hysterical and unpleasant woman anyway, but Jack likes her legs. I guess if you’re good-looking, that’s all that counts. Speaking of which, another wife in the story stays home and bakes apple pies and talks dizzily about how much she and her husband love each other while he’s out having sex with someone else. But here’s the one that floored me the most: Lustbader has the incoming president’s wife Lyn Carson lament (in her now zombified condition since her daughter was taken), “Without Alli, my life is without purpose!” Wow. And is this realistic behavior of a wife of the president elect, a wife who has spent years as a competent player in the political spotlight? It doesn’t seem so. Thanks for these views of women, Mr. Lustbader.

I caught at least two passages actually repeated in the book. One wonders why the editor didn’t catch them. And at the end, just as the bad guy is about to disclose what his motivations are, which happens to be central to the plot, well, there's this and that distraction, and the next thing you know, the book is over! Did everybody forget ? (while standing “under the buttermilk sky of an early dusk") (I don’t know about you, but if I saw a sky looking like buttermilk, I’d run for shelter.) Or is this omission deliberate so you’ll have to pick up the next Jack McClure adventure? show less

Eric Van Lustbader begins his political thriller First Daughter at the presidential inauguration of Edward Carson, where something shocking and unthinkable is about to take place. He essentially takes the reader to the edge of a precipice, teeters on that edge and then steps away and goes back to where it all began. Slowly, he works back to the present, to that event that is lurking in the back of reader's mind all the while. Of course, that means that this novel is quite a page-turner.

Van Lustbader weaves a thrilling story as Jack McClure navigates a dangerous political landscape to track down the soon-to-be first daughter and her elusive abductor. McClure makes a sympathetic, likable hero. There were one or two supporting characters show more who I would like to have gotten to know better and could have been developed further but overall, I was pleased with Van Lustbader's character development, which in this genre can easily be overpowered by the fast-paced plot.

I struggled a little with the dialogue in this book. It could have been fine-tuned to seem more natural and less cumbersome. This, however, didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the story, thanks to the perfectly paced plot. There was a coldness, a darkness lurking in the background throughout the book that was palpable. I could feel and sense the dark underbelly of Washington, D.C. The ruthless and deliberate brutality of the murderer made my skin crawl. And then there was the shock value: I didn't see several plot twists coming. I was on the edge of my seat from the first few pages until the very end.

The release of this gripping political thriller is perfectly timed to dovetail with current events. There are some underlying but well-supported assumptions about corruption in our political system, separation of church and state, and the viability of such things as faith-based initiatives. It was difficult not to notice thinly veiled parallels between our current administration and the outgoing administration in First Daughter. The political element in this story was very interesting, especially in light of the upcoming U.S. presidential election. show less

First Daughter is a fast moving political thriller, penned by NYT Best-Selling author Eric Van Lustbader. The novel starts off with the ending rather than the beginning, which adds great intrigue throughout the story. That was a very clever move, because the ending was so horrific that I just had to know what could have led up to these events.

Central to this novel is character Jack McClure. The author takes us a on a fascinating journey through Jack’s life, a dyslexic ATF agent who is put into the service of the Secret Service just as the President Elects daughter goes missing from her college dorm room. His job is to find her and bring her safely home. His past becomes eerily linked to the present, and to the missing daughter of the show more President Elect. Murders, people, and places almost too neatly relate back to Jack McClure throughout this novel. I felt that there were simply too many coincidences to make the story believable. Alas, that is the beauty of a novel rather than real life.

The final 25 pages are almost magical. The writing style is fluid and uncomplicated. If you are looking for your next contemporary political thriller read, this book should fit the bill very nicely. show less