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John Deal is no hero--he just happens to be in the right place at the right time, cruising in the Gulf of Mexico when a group of Cuban refugees are tossed overboard in a smuggling operation gone awry. Then, presidential politics, particularly the importance of the Florida vote to President Frank Shelton's reelection campaign, put Deal on stage in Miami for a Medal of Valor ceremony. In another case of bad timing, Deal is caught in the middle of a scheme by anti-Castro partisans who plan to kidnap the president and blame it on Cuba. But when at the last minute the First Lady stands in for her husband at the Medal of Valor ceremony, Deal finds himself an inadvertent hero again, abducted with Linda Shelton and taken away with her to a deserted island in the Bahamas. The problem is, nobody knows Deal's been snatched with the First Lady--nobody except for retired cop Vern Driscoll, Deal's closest friend. Flying into the eye of a hurricane to rescue Deal and the First Lady, he tries to accomplish what the FBI, CIA, and every other law enforcement agency under the president's command hasn't been able to. Meanwhile, it's up to Deal to uncover a plot against the president hatched from somewhere within the president's own administration.
John Deal is an antihero in the best tradition of existential mystery fiction, and in Standiford's capable hands, he's grown into a more complex character with every new adventure. And, while Frank and Linda Shelton bear a striking resemblance to Bill and Hillary Clinton, it may be more than a coincidence--Standiford clearly knows what goes on in Washington, especially where relations with Cuba and Miami are concerned. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
Standiford again proves he has the right stuff with this fifth?perhaps breakout?episode in the ongoing misadventures of unassuming, dilemma-prone Miami builder John Deal (Deal on Ice, etc.). Overnight, Deal achieves national hero status when he and ex-cop sidekick Vernon Driscoll save a boatload of Cuban refugees from drowning in Biscayne Bay. Modestly protesting the ordinariness of his act, Deal is awarded the Presidential Medal of Valor. As a campaign gimmick, the president moves the presentation ceremony to Miami, and the accidental hero is unwittingly caught in a sinister web of high-level chicanery. In what is staged to look like a Latino terrorist attack, hosts of innocent dignitaries and bystanders are gunned down, and the First Lady and Deal are taken as hostages to a tiny isolated tropical island. Despite flak from the tightly wound spook in charge, Driscoll uses his underworld connections to locate the small-time hood who supplied the contraband weapons to the terrorists and embarks on a hairy rescue mission, which leads to Nassau and back to the Keys. The indomitable Deal manages to survive a hurricane, turn the tables on the world-class terrorist leader and save the First Lady before he ultimately exposes the malevolent mastermind in the White House. For all the baroqueness of the plot, Standiford builds a tight narrative with credibly flawed characters and a powerful sense of place. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
