The Apostle

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 29 JUN 2009

At the start of bestseller Thor's less than convincing sixth Scot Harvath thriller (after The Last Patriot), Robert Alden, the new and na ve U.S. president, has just taken office with a landslide victory, due mainly to the assistance of strategist Stephanie Gallo, who "delivered the mainstream media for him on a silver platter." When Gallo's daughter, a doctor working in Afghanistan, is kidnapped, Gallo turns to Alden for help, and he, in turn, calls on Harvath, a former Navy SEAL and intelligence operative. Since the kidnappers are demanding the release of one of Osama bin Laden's lieutenants, Alden can't be seen to be negotiating with them. Thus Harvath must carry out his tricky assignment without official sanction. Meanwhile, Secret Service agent Elise Campbell, troubled by a conversation fragment she overheard indicating that Gallo has serious dirt on the president, launches an off-the-books inquiry into the pre-election death in a car accident of an attractive aide to Alden. The overseas rescue operation is more plausible than the stateside plot, but that's not saying much.