I received First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader from TJ at Planned TV Arts back in July. I finally picked it up and wished I’d read it sooner! It was a great book; a fun and fast read.
First Daughter is about president elect Edward Carson’s daughter, Alli, being kidnapped, a month before inauguration. Jack McClure is brought in to help find her because his daughter, who is deceased, was friends with Alli in college. Jack blames himself for his daughter’s death and promises to return Alli to her family alive.
The writing in this book was very good and the story kept along at a good clip. I loved how the author would flick back and forth between Jack trying to find Alli and Alli being held prisoner. Alli’s captor was a great villian. I could only sit back and watch while he slowly got Alli to sympathize with him, thereby creating Stockholm Syndrome. These are my favorite kinds of mysteries/thrillers, where I get a peek into what the bad guy is doing, because it makes the story that much more exciting when I’m yelling, “NO!! Don’t go in there! The killer’s in there!” I’m not entirely convinced the characters in books can’t hear me.
I don’t have much to say about this book other than it really was a good book and I definitely recommend it if you like mysteries. And if you’re participating in the Buy Books For the Holidays campaign, this would be a great book for someone who likes mysteries. It just came out this year, so unless your giftee is super on-the-ball, you’ll buy them something they haven’t read and possibly even introduce them to a new author!
Rating: 88 out of 100
Other ‘pinions:
Hi, Trish! Thank you for linking my review. The villain in this one sure was scary. I could see why Alli was so easily taken in by him.
And for the record, I talk to my books too.
Oh, I love a good mystery!
Lol. I’m usually yelling at the character in mysteries (well, almost any genre actually) regardless. “Of course he’s the killer! Are you blind?!” Yeah that one gets yelled a lot. I’ve heard a few good things about this one even though I don’t really do thrillers that have anything to do with politics too often.
Sounds like something I would enjoy. I will have to keep a lookout for this one.
i really like a good mystery too
I got it from TJ at Planned TV Arts too, reviewed it, loved it, and emailed the author an interview.
Great book- some of the more nuanced characters I’ve seen in a thriller in a long time. My review’s here
and did an author interview by email here
I’d love to see more in the series.
I received this book from the author as well and I haven’t started it yet. I’ve never read a mystery so I’m excited to read my first. I’m glad to hear that you liked it!