I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The President's Shadow by Brad Meltzer Series: Culper Ring
on June 16, 2015
Pages: 416
Format: ARC
Source: the publisher
It all begins with a severed hand found in the White House Rose Garden, an act that clearly threatens the President. Despite the President's strong feelings against Beecher White, a staffer at the National Archives, he knows that Beecher is one of the few individuals who can get to the bottom of this discovery. Beecher isn't your average Archives staffer, he belongs to the Culper Ring, a centuries old society created by George Washington, charged with protecting the Presidency.
The message they uncover isn't targeted at the President, but Beecher himself. His investigation uncovers one of the nation's greatest secrets and, unexpectedly, awakens ghosts in his own family's history.
I’m warning you up front, this isn’t going to be your typical review. Fans of Meltzer’s work know how brilliant an author he is; he’s managed to generate a following that is captivated by his numerous thrillers, children’s books, television series, and more. Rather than writing a review focusing heavily on the plot line, I would instead prefer to instead focus this review of sorts to the man behind the book, for this most recent novel, in my opinion, is the most personal of all. While there aren’t clear correlations to individuals in his personal life, other than those who influenced the character of Beecher, recent events in his life have clearly impacted and influenced his writing, this novel in particular.
A strong theme in this novel is the connection between father and child. Beecher has long sought answers to his father’s mysterious military career and, in this novel, he finally gets answers. A mother who thought her son committed suicide learns his death was not at his own hands, and a childhood friend of Beecher’s strives to help and protect her mentally ill father. Meltzer lost his own father not long ago and, while his relationship with his father wasn’t nearly as complicated as the characters in his novel, it’s obvious that this novel served as both a source of healing for Brad himself, but honoring his father as well.
Adding these strong familial connections to a genuinely captivating, and exceedingly well-researched plot line, and readers are handsomely rewarded with a thriller that truly provides readers with a message that extends well beyond the final, perfect, line of this novel. The conversational style of Meltzer’s writing makes it feel as though the characters are speaking to you directly. Without sounding too stalkerish, having been a fan of Meltzer’s for many years, listening to him speak in person on numerous occasions, it’s as if he’s reading this story to me himself. He puts that much of himself, his personality, into his writing. A sign of a truly daring and impeccably talented writer. A must read for fans of political or historical thrillers. Certainly my favorite of all his novels. Highly, highly recommended.
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