FIRST FAMILY
David Baldacci
Grand Central Publishing
Political Thriller
ISBN: 9780446539753
David Baldacci has been producing bestselling thrillers consistently since his debut in 1995 with ABSOLUTE POWER. Last year he returned to the top of the charts with a stand-alone international espionage thriller, THE WHOLE TRUTH. The early part of his career featured mostly stand-alone thrillers --- until 2003 when he penned SPLIT SECOND, the first of four novels featuring Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. With his latest effort, FIRST FAMILY, he revisits the now-former Secret Service agents for their first appearance since SIMPLE GENIUS in 2007.
FIRST FAMILY poses an interesting dilemma for Sean and Michelle: Could a kidnapping take place at the tightly guarded presidential compound, Camp David? If this were to happen, who would have protocol in investigating the matter? Such an event indeed occurred as 12-year-old Willa Dutton is taken in brutal fashion following a children’s birthday party at Camp David. Willa’s father, Tuck, is the brother of First Lady Jane Cox and niece of the current president, Dan “The Wolfman” Cox. President Cox is preparing for Election Day and the opportunity to be re-elected for another four-year term. Any negative publicity surrounding his immediate family cannot be good for campaign efforts. In addition to the Secret Service, CIA and FBI involvement, the First Lady goes out on her own to hire Sean and Michelle. Mrs. Cox has had prior experience with them and had worked closely with Sean during his own stint as a Secret Service agent.
Since this is a David Baldacci thriller, things are not as cut and dry as they seem. A child could not have been abducted from Camp David without some internal involvement. Unfortunately, Willa’s mother, Pam, was brutally murdered during the abduction, and her arm was marked with what later turns out to be a Native American symbol. With the nearest Native American settlements being a few states away, Sean and Michelle must create a fairly wide canvas area for their investigation. They begin to uncover links to everything from cover-ups to shady business dealings to adultery. Just how important is it for the First Family to have Willa found quickly and without incident?
The story moves to Willa’s captor, Sam Quarry, who has taken Willa to an underground prison on the grounds of his 200-year-old plantation home. The Atlee Plantation is in an isolated area of Alabama, and above the cavernous underground passages is a mysterious one-room house that obviously was built for some unknown purpose. Why did Quarry and his group --- including one son, Darryl --- kidnap not only Willa but also an adult woman named Diane Wohl? Quarry is a former Air Force pilot who speaks cryptically and keeps his agenda close to the vest. He also has some members of the Native American tribe the Koasatis living on his property. What, if any, is their involvement in the kidnappings, and what does the symbol left on Pam’s arm mean?
As the investigation begins to heat up, and as Sean and Michelle continue butting heads with the other agencies that are conducting their own investigations, a sudden tragedy hits Michelle. She receives a phone call from her brother Bill in Tennessee that their mother has died. Apparently, Sally had collapsed in her parking garage, hit her head on something and died before her body struck the cement. Michelle’s father, Frank, is an ex-policeman and totally despondent upon his daughter’s arrival. Even though Michelle’s brothers are also involved in law enforcement and see the death as being of natural causes, Michelle thinks otherwise. She begins to investigate on her own. Later, with the assistance of Sean and upon speaking with several friends and neighbors of her parents, she starts to paint a picture that this case may not be simple death by natural causes but a homicide. What makes things that much more uncomfortable for Michelle is that her father may be the number one suspect in her mother’s murder.
It was at this point in the novel that I became distracted as it did not appear that the Sally Maxwell murder had anything to do with the Willa Dutton abduction case. However, I should have remembered that I was in the hands of a master of thriller plotting in Baldacci and did not have to be worried about such things. I was indeed quite satisfied with the outcome of the Maxwell murder investigation and came to recognize that the title FIRST FAMILY may not be referring just to the President and First Lady. The title could almost be reversed to read “Family First,” as Michelle’s focus on her own family situation and the secrets revealed by her investigation take precedence, but in a way mirror the fact that the Cox family has their own secrets they need to hide. Once the Maxwell case is closed, Sean and Michelle are able to re-focus exclusively on the Willa Dutton case, and their newly found familial experience allows them to delve deeper into the past and to trust no one along the way.
Baldacci’s novel races to a breakneck ending involving a standoff at the Atlee Plantation. Once Sean and Michelle uncover the true reasoning behind Quarry’s abductions of Willa and Diane, they are placed in a precarious situation. They must fulfill their obligation to rescue Willa, but then are faced with the moral dilemma of revealing some of the past indiscretions by the First Family that would not only create a bigger scandal than Watergate or Monicagate, but could very well impact the outcome of the upcoming Presidential election.
FIRST FAMILY strikes to the heart of political cover-ups and dysfunctional families at all levels. I think David Baldacci said it best when he dedicated the book to “my mom, my brother and my sister, for all the love.” Another great King/Maxwell thriller!
--- Reviewed by Ray Palen
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