The Candidate by Lis Wiehl
Also by this author: The Newsmakers
Published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing on October 4th 2016
Genres: Contemporary Women, Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Political, Thrillers, Women Sleuths
Pages: 352
Goodreads
How far will a candidate go to become president? Erica Sparks—America’s top-rated cable-news host— is about to find out.Mike Ortiz is a dynamic war hero favored to win the White House. Standing by his side is his glamorous and adoring wife, Celeste. But something about this seemingly perfect couple troubles Erica. Is Celeste really who she seems? And most importantly, what really happened in that squalid Al-Qaeda prison where Mike Ortiz spent nine months?But more than the nation’s future is at stake. Erica’s relentless search for the truth puts the life of her preteen daughter Jenny in danger, even as Erica’s own dark past threatens to overtake her.In her latest Newsmakers thriller, New York Times bestselling author and Fox News legal analyst Lis Wiehl weaves a taut and chilling story. The Candidate is packed with political intrigue and media manipulation as the lust for power turns deadly indeed.
I’ll start by saying I am really glad I read The Newsmakers back in April of 2016 before I had a chance to read Lis Wiehl’s second book in the series, The Candidate. (See The Newsmakers review HERE.) Now that the third book, The Separatists, has been published (which I will be reading shortly), I thought I had better get this review posted pretty quickly.
The plot is very fast-paced, suspenseful and well-written. I could barely put the book own to go to bed at night and read it in every spare moment from cover to cover. There are a few references here to events in The Newsmakers, so it’s probably a good idea to read it first although this book stands on its own quite well.
I like the fictional characters as developed by this author, but I have to say I wasn’t a fan of the fact that she brought factual characters along with her opinions into the book. I felt that she took a risk in doing so as she might put readers off with her opinions knowing how angry some folks get when talking about their political opinions.
The Candidate portrays a very current scenario of the way politics is going on in our nation today, and Erica Sparks is an interesting character who is flawed, human, brave, smart and savvy.
Erica Sparks is America’s top-rated cable-news host and she is about to find out just how far a candidate will go to become president. Not only is the nation’s future at stake, because she is relentless in her search for the truth, Erica puts her 11-year old daughter, Jenny’s life in danger. Erica loves her job, but her “significant other” is away trying to build a television network in a faraway country. Erica’s daughter, Jenny has agreed to leave her father and come to live with Erica, but because Erica’s job takes her away so much they are having a tough time bonding together.
Because this book is considered a “suspense” story, it’s very hard not to write a spoiler review. I’ll stop right here and tell you to pick up this book. Make sure you have some decent time set aside because you’ll want to read it cover to cover like I did!
Lis Wiehl is one of the nation’s most prominent trial lawyers and highly regarded commentators. Currently, she is the legal analyst and reporter on the Fox News Channel and Bill O’Reilly’s sparring partner in the weekly “Is It Legal?” segment on The O’Reilly Factor. Prior to that she was O’Reilly’s co-host on the nationally syndicated show The Radio Factor. She is also a Professor of Law at New York Law School.
Prior to joining Fox News Channel in New York City, Wiehl served as a legal analyst and reporter for NBC News and NPR’s All Things Considered. Before that, Wiehl served as a Federal Prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s office.
Wiehl earned her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and her Master of Arts in Literature from the University of Queensland. Wiehl is also the author of The 51% Minority, which won the 2008 award for Books for a Better Life in the motivational category, and Winning Every Time. She lives in New York.
I received this book in paperback from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. The opinions I have expressed are my mom’s and we were not required to write a positive review.
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