2017 - Book 7 - The President's Assasin

The President's Assassin by Brian Haig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hmm... this book was a let down, compared to the high standards that I had for Brian Haig. This was more of a police procedural rather than anything to do with Sean Drummond.

I agree with Freda (my GoodReads book pal) about how the complexity and the intrigue level of the plot has gone down compared to the previous Sean Drummond books. Haig pulls the oldest sleight of the hand with this one. I think the author tries too hard to follow in the mold of James Patterson by trying to layer and multi-fold various plot points.

I am not too chuffed about Haig loaning out Sean Drummond to different groups willy nilly. Last book Sean Drummond was in the corporate sector, his efficiency & ruthlessness in dealing with Lisa Murrows murderers saw him get loaned out to the CIA this time around. It seems like all the government agencies are playing pass the cocky, rub you the wrong way, sarcastic Drummond.

I miss solid characters like Imenda Pepperfield and the military JAG court environs. Also in this book Drummond comes across as more horny than most of the other books put together and as such misses vital clues and hints which the author tries to setup as the big reveal for the finale.

As far as plots go, I am docking a star, coz the plot was basically Meh! There were probably 15-20 different ways the author could have done this if the ultimate objective was what the plot revealed.

Considering the books title, the President was not seen even in a single scene; all we heard about the man was from his mouthpieces, we never even saw any hide or hair of the great Gumba. So much for the President being assassinated.

The pace of the plot is frenetic and the story moves fast, it would have probably been better suited to a stand alone novel rather than one featuring Sean Drummond. The book carried the weight of the previous books in the series on it shoulders and sadly those shoulders weren't good enough to hold it up.

I am giving this one 3 stars only due to the affection that I have for Sean Drummond and the previous books in the series. It is my sincere hope that the next book in the series returns to its roots rather than casting Drummond out further in the sea.