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First Family
Sean King and Michelle Maxwell Series, No. 4

by David Baldacci

Pam Dutton wanted to talk to Sean King about a private matter. When King and his partner, Michelle Maxwell, drove into Dutton's driveway they heard a scream, then saw two men fleeing. They were fired upon by the fleeing men who escaped. Entering the house, Sean and Michelle found Pam dead with her throat slashed, two of her children drugged and her husband, Tuck, unconscious from a blow on his head. Their 12 year old daughter, Willa, was kidnapped. Tuck is the brother of the First Lady, Jane Cox. There seems to be no reason for the murder or the kidnapping.

The First Lady, Jane Cox, enlists the aid of King, a former Secret Service agent and now private investigator, to find Willa outside the efforts of the FBI. In the past, King saved her husband—then a Senator—from political disaster.

Michelle, also a former Secret Service agent and King's partner, is fighting her own personal demons when her mother suddenly dies. Upon examining the circumstances of her mother's death, she determines her mother was murdered. Now the two have two mysteries to solve.

In their search for Willa, they are lead to 62-year-old Sam Quarry who has a farm and mine in Alabama. There they enlist the aid of Gabriel, 11 year old son of Quarry's housekeeper, to find Willa and save her and a fellow captive. In the tunnels of the mine and the farmhouse they find the reasons and the truth behind the kidnapping.

First Family is a story of devotion, justice, abuse of power and vengeance. The action is constant. The police procedure is followed meticulously. The character are well developed: Jane Cox. a cold woman who will do anything to maintain her status quo; Willa and Gabriel, two brave and intelligent youngsters; and Sam Quarry is an obsessed father who will work for years to obtain justice and retribution for the wrong to his daughter.

This is an engrossing, well-written page-turner, with many twists and turns, guaranteed to keep the reader alert. Baldacci just seems to get better and better with each book.

Highly recommended.

The Book

Grand Central Publishing
April 2009
Hardcover
0446539759 / 978-0446539753
Suspense
Audio Review

The Reviewer

Barbara Buhrer
Reviewed 2009
© 2009 MyShelf.com