The Next President - Hardcover

Flynn, Joseph

4.21

849 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0553105337 ISBN 13: 9780553105339

Publisher: Bantam, 2000

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Joseph Flynn's critically acclaimed novel Digger was a People magazine Page-Turner of the Week and was hailed by The Denver Post as being "as clever as...any John Grisham work." Now, with The Next President, he has set a new benchmark for suspense. This is no simple cat-and-mouse story, but a nonstop thriller in which you'll never guess who's the cat and who's the mouse until the shattering conclusion.

J. D. Cade was trained to kill by his country. To kill without leaving the slightest suspicion as to who pulled the trigger. He did his duty and put the past behind him. Or so he thought. Now someone is blackmailing him to use his deadly skills one more time. Someone is using his only son as a pawn to force him to do what he swore he'd never do again: kill a human being. And this time the target is Franklin Delano Rawley-the first African-American on the verge of becoming the president of the United States.

As J. D. penetrates the inner circle of the Rawley campaign and gets to know the man he must kill, the more he realizes how difficult it will be to pull the trigger. But in order to spare Rawley's life while saving his own son, J. D. must somehow find out who is behind the conspiracy that could change the fate of a nation.

It won't be easy. J. D.'s every move is being watched by his blackmailer. He has already drawn the attention of a suspicious Secret Service agent. And he has met an old army "friend" working in the Rawley campaign. Just as troubling is J. D.'s attraction to Rawley's beautiful campaign manager. If J. D. does have to kill the candidate, he will have to betray her, too.

Time is running out. When J. D. finally pulls the trigger, who will live and who will die? Rawley? J. D.'s son? Or J. D. himself? And who will be the next president? You won't find out until the explosive conclusion of Joseph Flynn's totally unique thriller, one that defies you to guess the answers.

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Review:

J.D. Cade is a successful businessman who has put his first career, as an Army sniper in Vietnam, far behind him. And he's walked away from a volatile feud involving the Cades and the McCrays, two families who have hated each other for over a century for reasons barely remembered by any save the surviving McCrays. The McCrays have been gunning for the Cades as if the intervening years had never passed. Now Cade's being threatened with exposure for the steps he took to protect his family from the murderous McCrays years ago. And the blackmailer wants a very specific payment from this still-sharp shooter: he wants J.D. to assassinate the charismatic and principled candidate who is only weeks away from unseating the incumbent and being elected the first black president of the United States. If J.D. refuses, his beloved son's life will be destroyed. And despite the fact that he bears Franklin Delano Rawley no ill will, and even comes to respect and admire him, J.D. accepts the challenge and allows himself to be manipulated by the faceless, nameless threat to everything he holds dear. His first effort to kill the candidate fails. As he persists, the reader comes to understand the complexities of his character, and appreciate both his dilemma and his inner struggle. J.D. finds himself not only won over by the candidate but also drawn into a relationship with Rawley's savvy and attractive campaign manager. A decent, resourceful man with his own code of honor, J.D. must untangle the web of political deceit and intrigue that dates back to his own service in Vietnam in order to free himself from a shadowy adversary who will stop at nothing. An original, suspenseful thriller that will keep you turning the pages, Joseph Flynn's The Next President is appropriately timed to offer a literary alternative to what looks like the most tedious election campaign in years. --Jane Adams

From the Back Cover:

Praise for Digger

"Starts in high gear and doesn't slow down."
-The Washington Post

"A deftly mapped thriller."
-People

"Engrossing...nonstop action and original plot...rapid-fire suspense."
-Phillip Margolin, New York Times bestselling author of The Burning Man

"A well-knit, multilayered story...extremely fast [and] entertaining."
-The Denver Post

"Surefooted, suspenseful, and, in its breathless final moments, unexpectedly heartbreaking."
-Booklist

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