Newgate Callendar
Mr. Coonts has a tendency to see things in black and white. His heroes are too good to be true, and his villains are darker than a black hole. But in his prose he avoids the dreadful cliches of most of his colleagues. His dialogue is realistic, the story line mesmeric. That is the mark of a natural storyteller. We may know how it will come out, but we continue to turn the pages avidly....His characters do tend to be stereotypes, but Mr. Coonts knows how to write and build suspense.
— The New York Times
School Library Journal
YA-- Several story lines intertwine to produce a contemporary, fast-paced political thriller. Jake Grafton, seen in Coonts's previous three novels, returns as a staff member for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is joined by Jack Yocke, a Washington Post journalist, and Harrison R. Ford, an undercover agent, and the threesome assists the administration in rescuing Washington, D. C. from chaotic and horrifying circumstances that result when a Colombian drug lord and his gunmen arrive in this country for trial. While these events are unfolding, a hired assassin carries out an intricate plan to kill President Bush and several top officials. Coonts has readers' complete attention throughout this incredible, yet strangely believable, tale. There are many well-drawn characters in the sprawling story, and he does an excellent job of weaving together plot and participants.-- Nancy Bard, Jefferson Sci-Tech, Alexandria, VA
