Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | FICTION HAI | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
In the worst case of treason in U.S. history, General William Morrison has been charged with an array of crimes. Sean Drummond bulls ahead and comes to suspect that this simple case of treason is actually a chess game being played at the highest levels by the best and brightest--one in which Morrison is merely a pawn.
Author Notes
Brian Haig has had articles published in The New York Times and USA Today. He lives with his wife and four children in New Jersey.
(Publisher Provided)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Military lawyer Sean Drummond, the wiseass hero of Haig's promising new series, ventures into the '90s aftermath of the Cold War this time out. The rollicking, free-swinging attorney is assigned to defend U.S. Army Gen. William Morrison, a Russian specialist accused of being a Soviet spy for 10 years. Drummond doesn't particularly want the job. On a professional level, he dislikes traitors. Personally, he resents the pompous Morrison. Complicating matters further, Drummond still carries a torch for Morrison's sexy wife, who had her pick of the two men years earlier and opted for the one with the higher rank. Despite all the distractions, Drummond hurls himself into the case. The action bounces back and forth in dramatic fashion between Washington, D.C., and Moscow, with Drummond finding nothing but discouragement in both capitals. It is only after two attempts on his life that he begins to suspect that Morrison was framed. Drummond's tireless investigations eventually put him face to face with a man who has been the driving force behind every Russian ruler in the past 30 years: the so-called Kingmaker. Haig's third Drummond adventure (after Mortal Allies) rolls along in high spirits, mixing clever cloak-and-dagger tricks, gutsy heroics and edgy, often humorous dialogue. Drummond at times borders on comic caricature-he personally kills five villains, stabbing one fatally in the eye with a ballpoint pen-yet he is easy to root for and fun to watch in action. Remarkably, his smart-alecky personality, expressed in one wisenheimer comment after another, remains fresh from start to finish. Agent, Luke Janklow, Janklow Nesbit. (Jan. 9) Forecast: Haig's track record, his name (he is the son of former secretary of state Alexander Haig) and ample television, radio and print advertising should help make this a big seller. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Sean Drummond, the protagonist of Haig's Secret Sanction (2001) and Mortal Allies [BKL My 1 02], is back--and in good form. Drummond is an attorney with the army's Judge Advocate General's office, and his new assignment is to defend a brigadier general who was the U.S. military attachein the Moscow embassy, now charged with treason. The general's wife is Drummond's former "slumber buddy." Drummond selects a Russian-speaking co-counsel to help him, a young woman with a silver bead in her left nostril and a silver hoop poking out of her navel. There is nothing unique about the plot, but Haig's approach to what is a rather standard story line is entertaining with a capital E. In describing Drummond's ex-lover's father, for example, Haig writes, "I thought I heard him laugh once at a cocktail party, but when I went to investigate, he was choking on a piece of lobster. I rooted for the lobster, incidentally." That kind of sarcastic dialogue and the sharply drawn characters that speak these wonderful lines are sure to delight readers. George Cohen
Kirkus Review
Old-hat spies tell shopworn lies in this third outing from a thrillermeister who's done much better (Secret Sanction, 2001, etc.). JAG (Judge Advocate General) lawyer Major Sean Drummond, who has sparkled in the past, strives manfully here, but it's hard for the razzle to dazzle (even with the help of some pretty good one-liners) when the plotting's caught in the iron grip of formula. For this series, Drummond gets lumbered with a case that has career-breaker written all over it-involving Brigadier General William T. Morrison, with whom Drummond has a history. For a brief period the two were brothers in arms and they once shared a combat assignment-concluded brilliantly-but not the accruing glory, since sneaky Morrison hogged full credit. Seasoned bureaucratic warrior that he is, Drummond could probably have forgiven him that trespass-nobody's perfect-except that Morrison then stole Drummond's college sweetheart and all-time dream girl, the staggeringly beautiful ("alabaster skin . . . scorching blue eyes . . . ") Mary Steele Morrison. Now, the mighty having plummeted-in a fall from grace matched only by Benedict Arnold's-arrogant, fast-tracking General Morrison, former US military attache in the Moscow embassy, has been arrested, handcuffed, and hauled off to the jail in Fort Leavenworth, charged with high crimes and misdemeanors, including (gulp!) treason. And, could you believe, he wants Drummond to represent him. For his part, Drummond sees in this an enticing danger named Major Eddie Golden, "the Babe Ruth" of JAG prosecutors, who makes a practice of distributing emblematic baseball bats to attorneys he's brutalized. Drummond, the unhappy owner of a pair of these, hungers for another go-round with the glittering Golden. At first the evidence against Morrison seems overwhelming (natch), but, bulldog-like, Drummond hangs in until the jerrybuilt conspiracies begin their inevitable crumbling-and the you'll-never-guess-who suspects their fall. A letdown. Not terrible-just that more was expected.
Library Journal Review
Haig brings back Sean Drummond to defend a general accused of treason. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
