There’s a lot of potboiler twists, multiple interconnecting storylines, and a larger rather than smaller cast of characters in this dramatic political thriller. The plot of a president focusing on their own greatness and willing to put the country in harm to portray himself as “great” really hit home to me in our current political climate (and I hate politics!

Blowback by James Patterson, Brendan DuBois - Publishers Weekly Blowback by James Patterson, Brendan DuBois - Publishers Weekly

Patterson and DuBois do a masterful job with this piece, standing alongside some of the greats in the genre with this novel. S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Fiction can play with extremes in safe ways, helping us explore what might happen if…and that’s exactly what DuBois and Patterson give us in Blowback. Add some fascinating historical tidbits to this action-packed political thriller and it’s a recipe for a fun read.From the New York Times bestselling author of The President Is Missing , America has elected its most brilliant president ever, but he’s also a psychopath—and about to start a world war with our most dangerous enemy. This book had all the adventure I was looking for and some of the language simply had my dying-like the phrase "thrashing threes". It feels almost like business as usual to CIA field operative Benjamin Lucas when the defection of his Stanford schoolmate Chin Lin from the Chinese Ministry of State Security goes pear-shaped: Masked men storm the meeting in which Chin is handing over supersecret information, Chin gets shot, Ben gets abducted and imprisoned.

Blowback: A president in turmoil. A deadly motive. eBook

But the biggest problem is that this narrative is framed as a mystery without delivering the pleasures of a mystery. In Patterson and DuBois fashion it has many twist and turns and many of the twist will leave you thinking that is a little too far out until you watch the evening news and realize they are probably not that far out. Blowback, his latest thriller, is co-written with frequent collaborator Brendan DuBois (The Summer House, The First Lady, and so on), and the cover slogan is "An American President Goes Insane. Together, their spy thriller has some great twists and proves that there’s s no end to the abilities when Patterson enlists the help of great authors. S. Convinced that he’s been ordained to rend China’s digital infrastructure from top to bottom, Barrett has insulated himself from second-guessing by surrounding himself with yes men and neutralizing any dissenting voices by canceling their communications capabilities or having them assassinated.Keegan Barrett, the newly elected president at the center of the story, is “operating the government like it was his personal fiefdom. The summary cover makes you think this book is about a Trump-style president and how he goes about putting himself ahead of the country.

Blowback - Penguin Books UK Blowback - Penguin Books UK

Junior, the garrulous canine star of Dog Diaries: A Middle School Story, makes the most of his “first-ever Howliday Season” in his festive and funny second outing. For the most part, believe it or not, for the most part this book was pretty good and flowed smoothly most of the time.

He’s setting up two CIA teams, one domestic and one foreign, with authorization to bring America back to what he sees it should be, strong and dominate. I’ve got to know… is there actually a button to begin a cyber war that the leader of the free world can push? It has a great premise gone awry and fails on so many levels: a plot that is not credible, dumb characters and just bad writing. A former American president turns action hero in Clinton and Patterson’s disappointing follow-up to their bestselling The President Is Missing. For me, the best part of “Blowback” was the plotting and how the characters connected to the overall story.

Blowback by James Patterson | Waterstones Blowback by James Patterson | Waterstones

James Patterson has written many presidential thrillers, like The President's Daughter and the The President is missing, both of which I enjoyed. Having been on a slight James Patterson kick, I was eager to get my hands on this collaborative effort between the star-author and Brendan DuBois.He has written many other number one bestsellers including collaborations with President Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton, stand-alone thrillers and non-fiction. I presumed this one would be great given his reputation, but had to push myself to get to the ending. The even bigger problem is that President Barrett has an even bigger master plan that he is working on and Liam and Noa are only two of the players that he is manipulating to put that plan into action.