Thrillers

The Exile, Allan Folsom - 05.01.07 ****
The Machiavelli Covenant, Allan Folsom - 04.11.07 ****

I read these two books in the wrong order, but the stories, while involving the same character, are pretty much stand alone novels. In The Exile, John Barron, a police officer in Los Angeles, becomes involved in a horrific manhunt for a brutal serial killer, and at the same time comes to the realization that his unit is a group of lawless vigilantes who threaten his own safety and the safety of his family if he tries to move against them. To protect himself and his sister, he must find the murderer, move his sister to safety, and create a new identity for himself, all while trying to solve a far reaching mystery and unravel a conspiracy that spreads across the globe and to the heights of wealth, prestige and power, and that, if unstopped, can change the face of the political globe.
In The Machiavelli Covenant, he returns from his self-imposed exile in England to the United States at the request of an old lover, whose husband and son have died mysteriously, and who is convinced that she herself has been murdered. Desperate to stay below the radar of the police who may still be searching for him, he tries to solve the murder of his friend. When the clues lead to Europe and an unexpected meeting with the president of the United States, who is also on the run from his Secret Service agents who are trying to kill him, the two compare notes and discover a conspiracy much greater and more evil than either realized.
These are both excellent novels that were difficult to put down - highly recommended!