The Candidate

by Lis Wiehl, Sebastian Stuart (With)

Overview

How far will a candidate go to become president? Erica Sparks—America’s top-rated cable-news host— is about to find out.

Mike Ortiz is a dynamic war hero favored to win the White House. Standing by his side is his glamorous and adoring wife, Celeste. But something about this seemingly perfect couple troubles Erica. Is Celeste really who she seems? And most importantly, what really happened in that squalid Al-Qaeda prison where Mike Ortiz spent nine months?

But more than the nation’s future is at stake. Erica’s relentless search for the truth puts the life of her preteen daughter Jenny in danger, even as Erica’s own dark past threatens to overtake her.

In her latest Newsmakers thriller, New York Times bestselling author and Fox News legal analyst Lis Wiehl weaves a taut and chilling story. The Candidate is packed with political intrigue and media manipulation as the lust for power turns deadly indeed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780718039097
Publisher:	Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date:	06/27/2017
Series:	Lis Wiehl's Newsmakers Series , #2
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Lis Wiehl is the former legal analyst for Fox News and the O’Reilly Factor and has appeared regularly on Your World with Neil Cavuto, Lou Dobbs Tonight, and the Imus morning shows. The former cohost of WOR radio's WOR Tonight with Joe Concha and Lis Wiehl, she has served as legal analyst and reporter for NBC News and NPR's All Things Considered, as a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney's office, and as a tenured professor of law at the University of Washington. She appears frequently on CNN as a legal analyst.

Sebastian Stuart has published four novels under his own name, including The Hour Between, winner of the Ferro-Grumley Award and an NPR Season’s Readings selection. He has also co-written national and New York Times bestselling books. As senior editor of e-book publisher New Word City, Stuart has written over two dozen original non-fiction e-books.

Editorial Reviews

08/29/2016
In this predictable second installment of the Newsmakers series, Wiehl continues to follow the career of GNN cable news host Erica Sparks. Her recent ratings slip puts her career at GNN in jeopardy, and she becomes laser-focused on breaking a big story. When a favored presidential hopeful and his wife survive a bombing just minutes before an important primary debate—and just feet from where Sparks is reporting—all she sees is opportunity. As she investigates the bombing, Sparks becomes disturbed by the Svengali-like control that billionaire businesswoman Celeste Ortiz seems to have over her husband, the now presumptive Democratic nominee. Sparks is extremely unsympathetic heroine, as her devotion to her career trumps everything else—including her daughter, her fiancé, and the safety of others. Wiehl's portrayals include unambiguous evil and Sparks is singularly focused on exposing truth, with little else to round out her personality. Readers familiar with The Manchurian Candidate will no doubt anticipate the outcome early on. Agent: Todd Shuster. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

. . . there is plenty of suspense, exciting twists and complex characters that make it hard to put down.

4-star review RT Book Reviews

11/01/2016
This second series installment (following The Newsmakers) sees reporter Erica Sparks observing how one of the presidential candidates seems overly reliant on his wife. Erica's curiosity is piqued, but as she closes in on the truth, more people die. The sometimes graphic violence depicted here makes this edgier read a great pick for thriller fans.

Library Journal

2016-07-20
A senator’s wife may have more invested in the campaign than just her good name. Can a reporter uncover the truth before she becomes the next target?Investigative journalist Erica Sparks thinks it’s her job to introduce the candidates for the upcoming presidential election on her show, The Erica Sparks Effect. It’s not just for ratings, though Erica has recently been reminded by GNN execs that she can’t live forever off the success of her past investigations (The Newsmakers, 2016, etc.). While she’s covering the final Democratic debate between Sen. Mike Ortiz and Gov. Fred Buchanan, a bomb explodes, sending Erica and her viewers into shock. Erica is determined to live up to her job title and find out whether this was a random act of violence or evidence of something greater and more sinister. She’s certain that the senator’s wife, Celeste Pierce Ortiz, has more information than she’s sharing. When she presses Celeste, the two engage in a game of cat and mouse in which Erica’s belief that she has the upper hand may be unfounded. On top of this, Erica, who’s won full-time custody of her daughter, Jenny, knows she needs to hire someone to lighten the load. Will hiring an intern from the show help bridge the gap or make it greater? She wishes she could confide in her fiance, Greg, though he’s working his own 24/7 shift in Australia. Will Erica uncover Celeste’s secret or become another pawn in Celeste’s apparently mind-controlled army?Though it’s easy to enter and savor the wholly fictional world of politicians driving, and driven by, the media, Wiehl’s plot is well-worn and derivative, with a predictable ending unworthy of her plucky heroine.

Kirkus Reviews