From Publishers Weekly
The presidential election of 2000 is coming down to the wire in this disappointing thriller, when Democratic candidate (and attorney general) Allison Leahy blows a solid lead by refusing to answer the question whether she's ever been unfaithful to her husband. Just as Republican candidate Lincoln Howe (read: Colin Powell) is about to pull ahead, his granddaughter is kidnapped. Leahy's own newly adopted baby daughter was the victim of a similar crime eight years earlier. Are the abductions linked? Is someone connected to either of the candidates responsible? Those are the questions that never quite propel Grippando's latest, after The Informant. While that novel had a strong narrative engine fueled by insider information on the FBI, this one never hits second gear. Neither Leahy nor Howe seems a particularly worthy candidate or likable person, and the possible villains?an ex-boyfriend, a pair of conniving campaign managers, Leahy's tough businessman husband?are equally flat and unconvincing. Author tour. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
A U.S. attorney general running for president must deal with the kidnapping of an opponent's granddaughter.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
James Grippando's latest thriller interweaves the mysterious abduction of a young girl with the political strife of a presidential election campaign. Allison Janney performs the role of U.S. Attorney General and presidential candidate Allison Leahy with all the determination and confidence necessary for a woman in her position. With her deep, Kathleen Turner-ish voice, Janney doesn't need to stretch too far to portray the Southern, African-American political opponent, General Lincoln Howe. Janney's dramatization involves the listeners to such a degree that we feel Allison's desperation as time is running out for her to find and save the young girl and confront her own painful past. K.M.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
It's the year 2000, and U.S. Attorney General Allison Leahy is the country's first female presidential candidate. When opponent Lincoln Howe's granddaughter, Kristen, is kidnapped, Leahy--whose own daughter was abducted eight years earlier--is torn between her political advisors, who tell her to stay far away from the investigation, and her memories of her own tragedy. Was Kristen's kidnapping orchestrated by Leahy's people, or did the orders come from Lincoln Howe's camp? Who's being manipulated, and who's doing the manipulating? Readers won't know until the final, genuinely surprising moments. This is a gripping (and frightening) story about the Machiavellian world of American politics--not quite on the level of classics such as Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men, but, in places, very close. Libraries should give this title, Grippando's third political thriller (after The Pardon, 1994, and The Informant, 1996), a prominent position in their new-releases sections; it's sure to be in demand. David Pitt


From Kirkus Reviews
Woman-in-periler in which the second female US attorney general, who also happens to be the first Democratic female presidential candidate, puts her campaign on hold two weeks before Election Day to rescue the kidnapped granddaughter of her Republican adversary. Thriller-machinist Grippando (The Informant, 1996, etc.) takes us back to 1992, when Emily, the adopted baby daughter of his heroine, the have-it-all, never-lost-a-case, unmarried career prosecutor Allison Leahy, is mysteriously spirited away from her Chicago home. Despite the considerable law enforcement resources available to Leahy, Emily's disappearance remains unsolved as, eight years later, the beautiful, courageous, now-married US attorney general and Democratic presidential hopeful blows a televised debate against her rival, the General Lincoln Howe (a thinly fictionalized Colin Powell), and finds herself slipping in the polls. Then, in the last week in October, a pair of cartoonish thugs snatch Howe's granddaughter Kirsten from her public school. Remembering the pain she endured when her own daughter vanished, Leahy decides to duck campaigning and, as head of the FBI, do her job by catching the kidnappers, even if means losing the election. As he's done in previous page-turners, Grippando again reveals too much of his story too soon--here, not only that the kidnapping was politically motivated but that the mastermind behind it all may be too close to Leahy for comfort. Among the usual suspects: Leahy's wet-blanket husband Peter; her torch-carrying ex-lover Mitch O'Brien; her Machiavellian campaign strategist David Wilcox; Howe's even more Machiavellian strategist Buck LaBelle; and a host of unsavory Beltway types. Meantime, Leahy's spunk and gutsy bravado have her dodging bullets and wringing every possible victory from a series of preposterously affected defeats. Corny dialogue, cheesy political stereotypes, and a shrill, headstrong heroine who wouldn't last a minute in a real courtroom, much less the Oval Office. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.



"Entertaining...Grippando has produced another exciting and cleverly plotted novel."



"His best so far...Grippando keeps you guessing."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Allison Leahy is the U.S. attorney general, the most renowned lawyer in America. She and her wealthy husband are the twenty-first-century version of the couple who has it all: a happy marriage and two successful careers. To top it off, Allison is the highly touted Democratic nominee for the presidency. Her opponent is Lincoln Howe, a retired four-star army general and bona fide African-American hero. Like Allison, Howe is living the American dream - but time is running out. For months the candidates have run neck and neck. Both sides need just one extra push to swing the election. And on Halloween morning, they get it. A twelve-year-old girl is kidnapped on her way to school. The girl is Kristen Howe, Lincoln Howe's granddaughter. The nation and the candidates explode in outrage. As attorney general, Allison launches a massive nationwide manhunt. But her motives are under fire, especially from her political opponent, who wants his adversary off the case of his missing granddaughter. In truth Allison's drive to bring Kristen home safe is far more personal than political. Years before, Allison's adopted baby daughter was stolen from her home, never to be found. Now it seems likely that her own child's fate is somehow tied to the current crisis.

FROM THE CRITICS

Miami Herald

His best so far...Grippando keeps you guessing.

Denver Post

Entertaining...Grippando has produced another exciting and cleverly plotted novel.

Miami Herald

His best so far. . . Grippando keeps you guessing.

Denver Post

Entertaining. . . Grippando has produced another exciting and cleverly plotted novel.

Publishers Weekly