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A former president and the world’s bestselling author have teamed up for the second time on a thriller involving a fictional U.S. president.
The new effort, “The President’s Daughter” isn’t as accomplished as the 2018 bestseller from Bill Clinton and James Patterson, “The President is Missing,” but faithful Patterson fans should enjoy it.
Rather oddly, Clinton and Patterson have not followed up with a new story about fictional President Jonathan Duncan, star of their first book, but have created a new fictional POTUS — Former President Matt Keating, who lost primary elections and his second term to his scheming vice president, Pamela Barnes. Keating now lives on his wooded acreage in New Hampshire while his wife, Samantha, an archaeologist, is at work on a dig in Maine. While he was still president, Keating managed to draw the ire of the brutal Islamic terrorist Asim Al-Asheed, who has just kidnapped and intends to murder the Keatings’ daughter, Melanie.
When President Barnes and her chief of staff — her politically savvy husband — drag their feet in assembling federal forces and ransom money to secure the safe return of the teenage Mel, Keating calls on his past life as a Navy SEAL, contacts loyal friends and associates, and assembles his own rescue crew, which, if the girl is killed, will turn out to be a revenge crew. Adding complexity to the intrigue is a Chinese operative who would like to intercept the girl to give his country leverage over the American government.
Patterson and Clinton write in narrative bursts, alternating points of view among the primary characters and more often than not, ending the short chapters with cliffhangers.
The plot is all action, with a lot of coincidences and less-than-satisfying character development. Matt Keating is a cliche good guy, more believable as a Navy SEAL than a political animal who made it to the White House. Not much time is spent fleshing out Samantha Keating but Mel Keating is nicely developed, evolving from a prickly teen into a resourceful young woman who remembers and employs some of the things she learned from her father.
“The President’s Daughter” is a tightly paced, sometimes brutal, and rather routine thriller. The book is out on whether or not Patterson and Clinton will team up for a third novel and, if so, whether they will revisit either of their first two American presidents or create a new one.
