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dixieb01's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
m_readss's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
mobyskine's review against another edition
5.0
A political thriller of good guy vs bad guy premise, from White House and New Hampshire to Nafusa Mountains in Libya, the former US president, Matthew Keating gets a 'personal attack' invitation, a revenge of a life for a life from a terrorist Asim Al-Asheed who has abducted his daughter, Melanie.
A well structured plot that follows Matt's life through his last term of being the US president (insert some dirty political scenes) to the day of the abduction and the aftermath of it. Realising that his daughter is still in the hands of Asim (after a 'bloody' episode of her well-being and with no help from the White House), he decided to embark on a one-man special ops mission to save his daughter.
Despite the thickness, I would consider this as an easy and light read due to its short chapters and straightforward narrative. Bit expected on the storyline but still quite enthralling and surprising to me. Love the glimpse of political rules and processes around the White House (really dislike the new president especially her husband), keeping loyalty to the one that you can trust, be aware of the 'snakes", and to use your 'info' at the right time (well done, Sam!). Love Matt's gripping characters and his buddies also all the dramatic and intense rescuing mission-- that seriously making me nervous! I love Melanie-- tough and quick thinker, and thanks to David Stahl (that chapter 131 *sighhh*) I get all emotional and sobbing after reading a thriller ://
I guess it's a great thing that I have yet to read the previous The President is Missing as I read reviews that these two having the same formula and one might find it boring and too expected. Nevertheless, a great political thriller if you are interested and I think this is also a great read if you are a new thriller reader (don't mind the thickness, nearly 600 pages for this edition)-- tense and exciting, not complicated and draggy, not much of political jargons and quite easy to delve into. Honestly I enjoyed reading this a lot. A full 5 stars!
Thanks to Pansing Distribution for sending me a review copy of this book in return for my honest review!
A well structured plot that follows Matt's life through his last term of being the US president (insert some dirty political scenes) to the day of the abduction and the aftermath of it. Realising that his daughter is still in the hands of Asim (after a 'bloody' episode of her well-being and with no help from the White House), he decided to embark on a one-man special ops mission to save his daughter.
Despite the thickness, I would consider this as an easy and light read due to its short chapters and straightforward narrative. Bit expected on the storyline but still quite enthralling and surprising to me. Love the glimpse of political rules and processes around the White House (really dislike the new president especially her husband), keeping loyalty to the one that you can trust, be aware of the 'snakes", and to use your 'info' at the right time (well done, Sam!). Love Matt's gripping characters and his buddies also all the dramatic and intense rescuing mission-- that seriously making me nervous! I love Melanie-- tough and quick thinker, and thanks to David Stahl (that chapter 131 *sighhh*) I get all emotional and sobbing after reading a thriller ://
I guess it's a great thing that I have yet to read the previous The President is Missing as I read reviews that these two having the same formula and one might find it boring and too expected. Nevertheless, a great political thriller if you are interested and I think this is also a great read if you are a new thriller reader (don't mind the thickness, nearly 600 pages for this edition)-- tense and exciting, not complicated and draggy, not much of political jargons and quite easy to delve into. Honestly I enjoyed reading this a lot. A full 5 stars!
Thanks to Pansing Distribution for sending me a review copy of this book in return for my honest review!
patreader's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
danaisreading's review against another edition
3.0
Meh. Story was interesting, but didn't need 600 pages to tell it. It tried too hard to be a Tom Clancy style novel, and it got lost in that. Matt Keating is no Jack Ryan.
The twists and turns sprung on the reader are pretty predictable. Half of these could have been left out and still managed to not lose anything with the tale Clinton & Patterson were trying to tell.
The twists and turns sprung on the reader are pretty predictable.
Spoiler
Keating's daughter Mel dies on live TV. Since this happens on page 200 something, and there are still 400 pages to go, the reader knows she's actually still alive. One of the rescue team dies during the attempt, because they always do in these kinds of stories. Keating is an ex-SEAL, so he manages to evade his assigned Secret Service agents in order to go on the rescue mission himself because he doesn't trust everyone on his detail. President's successor apparently is cold and calculating yet also easily manipulated by her husband Chief of Staff, who is the "real" power behind the Resolute Desk. And of course, the First Gentleman has a deep dark secret that effectively throws him out of power once Mel's mom bluff reveals it to the President. There's a Chinese agent (who doesn't really need to even be in the story) who harbors a deep-seated hatred of Americans, but can be talked out of his plan of revenge in a 5-minute conversation with the boss he also hates. Etc, etc.voracious_reader_j's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
tagoreketabkhane31's review
4.0
*Actual Rating 3.5 Stars* [Arc provided by Little Brown/Knopf publishing as an employee with Barnes & Noble]
The follow up from their popular thriller "The President is Missing", Patterson and President Clinton return with "The President's Daughter, a standalone thriller that follows former President Matt Keating, a former SEAL who has his daughter kidnapped by a terrorists who family Keating had killed during the first year of his administration when an operation to retrieve went sideways, and now his daughter has been kidnapped in retaliation, and a manhunt ensues that puts Keating and his skills as both a former President and Navy SEAL to the test.
Like most Patterson books, the book has its moments of thrills and twists, and does a good job at being an entertaining book. The main characters are relatively fleshed out well, and does play with the tropes of a political thriller - the "hate" of the DC establishment, the tech genius being a woman and an unapologetic "feminist" (though, very clear that this is written by a male author, because she goes out of her way to talk about various forms of sexism as part of her dialogue in the thriller), the savvy partner of the main character, a woman that he loves but who is able to handle herself and her being "different" from other women, etc.
While the Arc had several mistakes both grammatical and factual, I did find it interesting that the thriller was utilizing pop culture and some current events to maintain relevance. For example, the commentary on the Palestinian - Israeli conflict, along with the softening of ties between the Saudis and Israelis, the Second Gentleman being embroiled in a scandal involving exploited and sexualized minors, a scandal with the Chinese during the Siege of Srebrenica, and a few others make some points stand out for the wrong reason.
An enjoyable read overall from Patterson and President Clinton, and a good follow up to first novel together.
The follow up from their popular thriller "The President is Missing", Patterson and President Clinton return with "The President's Daughter, a standalone thriller that follows former President Matt Keating, a former SEAL who has his daughter kidnapped by a terrorists who family Keating had killed during the first year of his administration when an operation to retrieve went sideways, and now his daughter has been kidnapped in retaliation, and a manhunt ensues that puts Keating and his skills as both a former President and Navy SEAL to the test.
Like most Patterson books, the book has its moments of thrills and twists, and does a good job at being an entertaining book. The main characters are relatively fleshed out well, and does play with the tropes of a political thriller - the "hate" of the DC establishment, the tech genius being a woman and an unapologetic "feminist" (though, very clear that this is written by a male author, because she goes out of her way to talk about various forms of sexism as part of her dialogue in the thriller), the savvy partner of the main character, a woman that he loves but who is able to handle herself and her being "different" from other women, etc.
While the Arc had several mistakes both grammatical and factual, I did find it interesting that the thriller was utilizing pop culture and some current events to maintain relevance. For example, the commentary on the Palestinian - Israeli conflict, along with the softening of ties between the Saudis and Israelis, the Second Gentleman being embroiled in a scandal involving exploited and sexualized minors, a scandal with the Chinese during the Siege of Srebrenica, and a few others make some points stand out for the wrong reason.
An enjoyable read overall from Patterson and President Clinton, and a good follow up to first novel together.
cc_loves_books's review
1.0
Wow, what a joke of a book. Not only is it repetitive and overflowing with stereotypes (about the Chinese, jihadists, etc), but also ridiculous in terms of its excessive mentioning of weaponry and machinery to no real purpose. I was shocked at some of the basic inaccuracies as well. Jihadists cooking bacon for a hostage?? Lol. The advice to try to escape in the first few hours of kidnapping?? That’s the opposite of all training I have ever received, and a quick way to get killed. The woman who calls her cousin Abu??? What?! Abu means “father of” and would never be used alone- and it’s repeated multiple times this way. Shocking lack of basic understanding of Arabic language and naming conventions. A reliance on blood splatter analysis to convince the former President his daughter is alive?! That’s been debunked as pseudoscience. And really silly that Mel doesn’t know how to call the US from abroad… one would assume that the daughter of a former president and a university professor would have at least traveled overseas and have that basic knowledge considering her apparent database information about guns, ops, and other “super impressive insider information.” I honestly cannot believe this was written by a former president and a bestselling author!!