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2000s: The President is Missing. The world is in shock
The President is Missing
What you need to know before your trail
A threat looms. Enemies are planning an attack of unprecedented scale on America. Uncertainty and fear grip Washington. There are whispers of cyberterror and espionage and a traitor in the cabinet. The President himself becomes a suspect, and then goes missing…
Set in real time, over the course of three days, this could really happen….
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
Washington DC
The President is on trial, sitting in front of the speaker of the house whilst he gets grilled about terrorist plans of the UK Government. He is accused of interfered with stopping a terrorist – the head of the Sons of Jihad – and allowing him to escape an ambush. He is accused of ordering Special Forces and CIA operatives to stop an attack on Suliman Cindoruk in Algeria.
The opening trial is brutal and unrelenting. The President of the USA is on the stand asking questions which hit him hard in the face about national security and his role in it.That’s not the worst part however….
The city of Washington and its political heritage and history come to the fore of course as you might imagine:
The Lincoln Memorial
“The Lincoln Memorial , with its Greek columns and imposing marble statue perched atop a seemingly endless staircase is on appropriately magisterial, better suited for a deity than a president revered for his humility. But that contradiction is quintessentially American, typical of a nation that was built on the premise of freedom, liberty and individual rights but that tramples freely on those principles abroad.”
The Ford theatre
…a favourite attraction in the novel is the one someone visits that day : Ford’sTheatre, the site of the most daring presidential assassination in the nation’s history”
the most exciting and tense scenes in the novel are those in the Situation Room as the President and his team are briefed about political turmoil and potential threats across the world. It’s time critical and decisions have to be made yesterday.The subbasement where Dick Cheney occupied after 9/11….this is the centre of operations and there’s a bunker, prison style feel to it all.
The city is awash with tension and drama. Vans with blackened out windows and snipers on the roof. Even a baseball stadium is not immune…
And somewhere in the woods in Virginia….
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
A fun and fast-paced thriller. There’s been a lot of hype and excitement to this book coming out but I really enjoyed the ride. From the scene setting at the beginning, the novel builds to a crescendo (or two) of thrills and spills. If even a small percentage of the detail in this novel is true, then it’s mind-blowing. The terrorist threat and the work required to contain, control or react is one thing, but the everyday workings of the White House and the inner thoughts of the president are what really fascinated me.
Why this novel works now is it’s very timely. Couldn’t be more timely if it tried. Terrorist threats, secret operations, a president forced to answer the questions of their people, why he’s doing what he’s doing and how that will affect the country. Oh the list is endless and it will surely provoke reactions from people from all sides. Enjoying this purely as a fictional thriller, it’s unrelenting, politically and emotionally charged and danger lurks on every page.
Ther’s a LOT to this novel. Back stories for the president, timely occurrences in the Middle East and the threat of a terrorist group The Sons of Jihad. Scary since you’re never sure what’s real and what’s not.Not to mention the cyber attacks! This was launched at the London Book Fair this year with a look alike Donald Trump sitting in a mocked up Oval Office. Scarily realistic. And reading this took me right back to that moment.
Sometimes the level of detail and political dialogue can get overbearing and confusing but it rights itself and only sometimes gets in the way of the frenetic pace. There’s a lot of scene setting early on of course but once the novel gets going, there’s no holding back.
An interesting collaboration that I wasn’t sure if it would work. It does seem far fetched in places and would the president say everything he does in the novel? Nothing is certain in the novel or in the real world for that matter. Not even that title.
But the overall operation? An enjoyable, no holds barred thriller
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The President is Missing
Destination : Washington DC Author/Guide: James Patterson/Bill Clinton
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