I do not often give a book a 1 star. Annoying characters and cheap hooks and very little payoff at the end. I'm still looking for a good read about the White House staff. This isn't it.

I gave it 1 star because I finished it. Not sure why. Stupid, shallow characters. Terrible writting. It had potential with the plot in the beginning. Kept hoping it would get better. Disappointed.

Great political thriller! I especially love novels that take place in a place I am familiar with. Excellent use of locations in Washington D.C. Great mystery that provides insights into the secret service and the way a president would run his staff.

This was soooo close to being a fantastic book. I loved the premise (First daughter and White House lawyer get in all sorts of hot water after seeing something they "weren't supposed to see." And the pace was about as breakneck as I've ever read. One cover blurb mentioned it was the classic definition of a page-turner. The dialogue was sharp and realistic from what I could tell. Even the characters avoided the stock White House stereotypes and seemed well fleshed out.

BUT . . . Nora, the First Daughter, was bats**t crazy and trouble from day one. Why ANY guy would fall for her--no matter how attractive the promise of sex with her might be--is beyond belief. Michael proved himself more than an idiot of a lawyer since he had a plum job working across the yard from the freaking POTUS. Yet he lets himself be talked into this crazy joy ride with Nora on what amounts to a first date.

Furthermore, the constant interrupting by one character while another was talking got on my nerves. Also, there was a lot of the main characters talking but not actually revealing anything to the other characters (partly due to the interruptions, partly because they seemed like they never had time to explain themselves). And it seemed like everyone was constantly lying to everyone else. It was tough to get any sense of what was really going on until the end. But at least the pace was good, so the reader was immediately thrust into another doubletalk-liars-lying-to-other-liars scene.

That might have been believable if he'd stopped right there and said, "Hey, I'm outta here." But he doesn't because she keeps dragging him down deeper. She has her reasons, of course, which sort of justify her behavior, but not his. It would have been one thing if the "crime" they witnessed was on the order of a terrorist murder or something that threatened national security. But the crime was relatively minor in the scope of national politics.

The unforeseen twist at the end (which in itself seemed a bit Deus Ex Machina) explained a lot but didn't save the downtick in rating I gave the book. So other than that HUGE leap of faith Meltzer asks us to take in the beginning, this is quite an entertaining story. One of the fun parts was the details of the inside of the White House, especially the residence and West Wing. I totally bought those descriptions and felt like I was seeing the real White House and the layers and layers of staff and employees who work there 24/7.

Young White House lawyer Michael Garrick finds himself in a dangerous position when he witnesses something criminal while on a date with the First Daughter.

(Iowa High School Book Award nominee 2003-04)

Very fast paced and suspenseful. Great holiday vacation read.