Margolin - Bev Russell, Library Director

(This column appeared in the May 9, 2010, Star-Herald)

It’s been a while since I enjoyed listening to an audio book from beginning to end. Recently, my problem with some audio books has been that the plot or dialogue gets tedious, or that the performance just isn’t up to snuff. None of this was true of Phillip Margolin’s “Executive Privilege”. The book is edge-of-your-seat thrilling, and the narrator, Jonathan Davis, never gets tedious. He does an excellent job of interpreting characters through voice.

Private Detective Dana Cutler is hired by an attorney, who is a close associate of the President of the United States, to tail a pretty college student. Dana wonders why someone with those connections would ask her to follow and report on someone so inconsequential, but a job is a job. Since being forced to resign from the D. C. police for mental health reasons, she needs all the work she can get.

Then, one night, Cutler follows Charlotte Walsh to a secret rendezvous with President Christopher Farrington. The next morning Walsh’s body is discovered brutally mutilated. Apparently, Walsh was the victim of a serial killer, nicknamed the D. C. Ripper. When she returns to her apartment, Cutler finds two men who claim to be government agents. They threaten to rape her unless she gives them photos, which she took of Charlotte Walsh and the President. Barely escaping, she runs for her life with little idea about why she is being targeted.

In Oregon a convicted serial killer, Clarence Little sits on death row. He claims he was framed for the murder of a teenage girl, who babysat for the then Governor Christopher Farrington who just happens to be President of the United States. Brad Miller, a junior associate in a large Portland law firm, is working on Little’s appeal. As Miller digs into the case, he discovers that Little may well be innocent of this murder. The evidence increasingly points to the governor’s office.

These two cases on opposite coasts come together in this spine-tingling thriller. Could someone in the White House be a murderer? The concept of the President of the United States as a serial killer may be a little over the top, but Margolin, a master of suspense, pulls it off. This intense mystery keeps a reader turning pages or listening way past bedtime. I downloaded “Executive Privilege” from OverDrive to my MP3 player, but the library also has a print copy of the book. I encourage you to try any of the novels by Phillip Margolin. The library has numerous books by Phillip Margolin. The library has numerous books by Phillip Margolin. They are action-packed, and any profanity or sex are kept to a minimum.

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