"Exhilarating international political thriller"

With primary victories in Florida, Texas and Louisiana Senator Grant Lawrence becomes the Democratic Party's nominee for president. As he thanks the voters on national TV, someone shoots him. The FBI begins investigating the assassination attempt, but hot stuff out of the box maverick Tom Lawton is assigned work to keep him out of the prime inquiries. He feels the Los Angeles incident with his superior has turned him into a persona non grata maverick in the minds of his supervisors, but that will not stop him from doing the job.

Tom still manages to find important information so as his reward he is totally yanked from the case. He digs into who and why the removal, but as he uncovers links to a Guatemala group that recently killed the American ambassador and CIA actions in the 1950s, he finds he is now the target of his bosses. He flees with only Agent Renate Bachle willing to help him as long as his needs fit her secret agenda.

WILDCARD is an exhilarating international political thriller that never slows down from the moment Tom sees Grant shot on TV until the final altercation "ghosts" and all. The story line is action-packed and moves at quite a fast clip with Tom going from the frying pan into the fire. The political devices to manipulate people make this a fine tale as the romantic subplot takes a back seat to the global suspense.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted January 1, 2005

Summary

When the deck has been stacked against you, working outside the law is the only card left to play Following a victorious evening, shots ring out, leaving the Democratic presidential front-runner near death. As the official investigation begins, FBI special agent Tom Lawton is sidelined, given work intended to keep him out of the way. Determined to find out why, he launches an investigation of his own-and uncovers a web of deceit constructed by his own superiors. Soon he has uncovered far too much. Working alone is no longer an option, and Tom's only hope is Agent Renate Bachle, a woman with secrets of her own. On the run for his life, he must determine whether he can trust this mysterious foreigner to guide him through the corridors of a conspiracy that threatens a nation, or whether she is simply another spider in the web. . .