Book Review - The Chosen One by Sam Bourne
I've so far liked all Sam Bourne's books. His first was "Righteous Men" which was excellent. This is his fourth effort. He has had some recurring characters in some of his novels since then and this one features a character from The Last Testament his second novel.
The plot of this one is more typical thriller than his previous books which I thought did stand out a little in the crowd - I'm sorry this one doesn't. Central premise is that the returning character (Maggie Costello) is an advisor to a brand new USA president who has just won a surprise landslide victory. Maggie has worked with him in his campaign team and then on the White House staff. However soon after he comes to office he is attacked by a series of revelations about his past to oust him from office. These come from one man who then dies in an apparent suicide before the final killer revelation. Maggie goes investigator to track down what is happening.
So it is okay a fast paced typical thriller but I was a little disappointed since as I say Sam's books in the past have had more of a atypical twist or plot line and the twist in this one is so telegraphed that surely no one can have figured what is coming in the big reveal way before it happens. But if you like thrillers a la Dan Brown etc. it's a reasonable effort - above half marks anyway
One last thing Same Bourne is a pseudonym of Jonathan Freeland who is a journalist working for the Guardian and The Jewish Times - no problem with that I suppose but the fact that it is a pseudonym is plaster all over the jacket and the bio of the author on every copy of every book of his, so I wonder why bother? Odd.
The plot of this one is more typical thriller than his previous books which I thought did stand out a little in the crowd - I'm sorry this one doesn't. Central premise is that the returning character (Maggie Costello) is an advisor to a brand new USA president who has just won a surprise landslide victory. Maggie has worked with him in his campaign team and then on the White House staff. However soon after he comes to office he is attacked by a series of revelations about his past to oust him from office. These come from one man who then dies in an apparent suicide before the final killer revelation. Maggie goes investigator to track down what is happening.
So it is okay a fast paced typical thriller but I was a little disappointed since as I say Sam's books in the past have had more of a atypical twist or plot line and the twist in this one is so telegraphed that surely no one can have figured what is coming in the big reveal way before it happens. But if you like thrillers a la Dan Brown etc. it's a reasonable effort - above half marks anyway
One last thing Same Bourne is a pseudonym of Jonathan Freeland who is a journalist working for the Guardian and The Jewish Times - no problem with that I suppose but the fact that it is a pseudonym is plaster all over the jacket and the bio of the author on every copy of every book of his, so I wonder why bother? Odd.
Husband's just read the Last Testament and I'll read it some time soonish. I did like The Righteous Men. I'll see how I get on with that before trying this one then.
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