Executive Privilege (Dana Cutler Book 1)

I have read several thrillers by this author who always makes sure the plot moves well and the characters are well-drawn. There are few subtleties in these books, but they are usually good reads. However, this one was ruined by a poorly thought and totally stupid ending. The scheme to trick the perpetrator is so poorly conceived and poorly executed that, in real life, the perpetrator would have gone free. An incredibly stupid and inane ending, worth of The Dukes of Hazzard or Hogan's Heroes, totally ruined this one for me. I feel that my time was wasted in reading this book.

This is a transportation book, the kind you read on a long airplane trip or your daily commute to work. A successful transportation book must take into account that the reader will rarely give the text undivided attention and that it will be read in pieces. To compensate the author has to make the chapters and paragraphs short, key facts must be repeated, the characters' names must be repeated, first and last names, at the beginning of every chapter and the characters themselves must be, well, broadly sketched. Most importantly the plot must speed along so that the reader doesn't have time to notice any of the previous issues nor time to notice the general silliness of the proceedings. Phillip Margolin's Executive Privilege manages all of the above.

I'm not a major consumer of transportation books but I have read enough to recognize the requirements and to know that some are pretty awful. Executive Privilege is not awful. It chugs along the rails of the genre's convention making the necessary stops. Because it's a legal thriller we get snatches of legal jargon and technicalities. We also have the usual allotment of serial killers and evil politicians. I got the impression that Margolin's heart wasn't into it when it came to the serial killers - that was in his favor in my opinion. He kept the victimization of women to a minimum except when it came to the background of one of the leads, another mark in his favor. The plot itself - is the President of the United States a serial killer? - won't keep you up nights but it's not intended to. The big twist isn't all that surprising (I clocked it by chapter 5) and the ending is textbook pat. (All the major players declare their love to the person they've been keeping at a distance.)

Margolin does slip in a few unexpected touches. The conservative politician isn't the villain for a change. The male lead, a young lawyer, is a complete doofus instead of a heroic genius with abs of steel. He was whiney and lovesick; it made for a nice change. It also made it a tad easier to put up with the antics of female lead Dana Cutler who is such a talent PI that she never once enters a room normally. She sneaks up on EVERYONE. I kept hoping we'd see her sneaking into a McDonald's to get a Big Mac in the epilogue just to show us she hadn't lost her street skills or whatever.

Take it for what it is and this book is enjoyable enough. It's not a beach read - taken in large doses you'd probably want to bury it under a sand castle. Read it for 20 minutes at a time on the train and you won't be at risk for missing your stop but the miles will speed by.

This book came out before the US TV series "House of Cards", I think, but there are undeniably accidental similarities between the two, which makes "Executive Privilege" really interesting to read in hindsight.

A young woman romantically linked to the President becomes the victim of DC area serial-killer -- and it turns out that she's not the first young woman romantically linked to the President to have become the victim of a serial killer. And the ruthless President's wife is named Claire. Now try picturing this couple as anyone other than Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright -- even though this President is from Oregon, not South Carolina. And picture the young victims as any of Frank Underwood's paramours or staff members from "House of Cards" Seasons one through five.

"Executive Privilege" is also interesting because of its autobiographical details. One of the two main characters is a hard-charging female ex-FBI agent who has PTSD following a brutal gang-rape -- OK, nothing special there, that's par for the course in this kind of mass-market legal thriller/police procedural. But the other main character is a young Oregon law firm associate, whose biography reads a lot like a young Philip Margolin's. The young lawyer is assigned a pro-bono death penalty appeal by a politically connected senior partner at his firm. Soon, both the young lawyer and the FBI agent find themselves caught up investigating the two Presidential serial killer victims, and they soon have to team up under -- yep, you guessed it -- a hail of bullets.

"Privilege" is a page-turner of a read; I won't call it "fun" because all of the sexual assault and serial killing lends the novel a trashy, voyeuristic, exploitative feel. There is very little mystery involved in whodunit, with some of the chapter headings giving the game away even if the text didn't make it blindingly obvious. But the young lawyer is an appealing protagonist, and, if you've read this book after November 2016, as I did, the conspiracy theories streaming out of Margolin's White House are no longer as remotely ridiculous as the author likely intended them to be.

The plot is contrived and unbelievable. The characters are one dimensional clichés. The action scenes are boring and predictable. The only positives are the absence of grammar or spelling mistakes. Must have a competent editor.

EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE (2008) by Phillip Margolin
[Excerpt from an April 2012 article by Jeff Baker in “The Oregonian” based on his interview with Phillip Margolin after the author had completed the final book in his “Washington Trilogy” featuring private detective Dana Cutler and fledgling lawyer Brad Miller: Books in the series are “Executive Privilege,” “Supreme Justice,” and “Capitol Murder.”]
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But the real story, the one Margolin can't wait to tell, is about how he got the idea for "Executive Privilege" in the first place. It was 1995, and his writing career had gone from dormant to stratospheric two years earlier with the publication of "Gone, But Not Forgotten," an international best-seller. Margolin's long career as a criminal defense attorney provided him the basis for some of his books, and he was trying to come up with an idea for his next one.
"What's the worst thing a president could do?" Margolin said. "That's what I started wondering. Well, he could murder somebody. But (other writers) had already done that. Could a president be a serial killer?"
Margolin loved the idea and told it to his editor at a sales conference. The response was immediate.
"Don't do that book," Margolin said, laughing. "He told me there was a young guy with a book coming out in a couple of months that had a similar plot, and it would look like I was copying him."
The novel was "Absolute Power" by David Baldacci, who wound up doing just fine for himself.
[End of Excerpt from The Oregonian}
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We’ve become hardened, I suppose, over the years to what presidents and lesser politicians will do to cling to their positions or accomplish their agendas. Nevertheless, in Baldacci’s “Absolute Power” and Margolin’s “Executive Privilege” the authors take the possible actions of a U.S. President or his underlings to the unthinkable extreme.
After a violent episode in Dana Cutler’s career as a cop, she retires to private practice and accepts an assignment to follow a young co-ed who is thought to be involved in stealing secrets from the campaign offices of President Chris Farrington’s opponent in the upcoming election. Cutler trails the young lady to a farmhouse where she meets with Farrington and, after a lengthy shouting match with the President, is taken by the Secret Service back to her car. Her body is discovered the following day in a dumpster. The wounds which caused her death are suggestive of a serial killer known as the “D.C. Ripper.” Was her murder the work of this madman or could it somehow be related to her meeting with the President?

Through various routes, P.I. Cutler, FBI Agent in Charge Keith Evans, and recent law school graduate Brad Miller become involved in the case and convinced that the President of the United States is up to his neck in the mess.

After all, “Executive Privilege” and “Absolute Power” are not just abstract terms. They are the thread and fabric of every organized government that has existed since the dawn of time.

Very interesting. Timely at election time.
Well written and a very enjoyable read.
Certainly would recommend.
Looking forward to reading the next nook in this series.

Several young women murdered, not one but two serial killers, an idealistic attorney, political maneuvering, and a rogue PI come together in this political thriller.

Washington, DC, ex-cop and PI Dana Cutler is handed an assignment by a local lawyer with high level connections in political circles. The client is anonymous, but the job seems simple enough: follow an American University co-ed and report on her movements. Where the co-ed goes is somewhere that takes Dana smack into a secret meeting she'd be better off not knowing about. Her instincts prove to be correct when a couple of goons show up at her apartment with deadly intentions. If that wasn't enough of a clue that she's in over her head, the co-ed she had been following turns up dead in a Dumpster in suburban Maryland the next morning.

There are enough twists, turns, and surprises in this book to take it out of the category of a run-of-the-mill political thriller. Shades of "Silence of the Lambs" hints of "The Manchurian Candidate" and even a small touch of Woodward and Burnstein-like investigative journalism are sliced, diced, and blended to create an action packed page-turner of a novel that goes coast to coast both figuratively and literally taking the reader along for a wild ride.

Recommended.

It is repetitious, and I resent the conclusion which taxes my intellect. I also resent the continual attacks against the federal agencies. I have now read 2 of his books and will never read another.

If you have never read a Phillip Margolin book, you are in for a treat. If you've read him before but missed this one what are you waiting for? It's free! How sweet is that?

Good pacing, good character development, an ending that you might or might not see coming.

NO formating issues (this is my pet peeve with Kindle books) in the main story; however, this offers a preview of his forthcoming book and I just could not believe the misspellings (Although they are slight, they are deadly. For example: of for off) and the mysterious missing letter T thoughout the preview. Hopefully this will be better proofed and edited before it's turned into a Kindle ebook (and before going to press).

Like I said, snag it while it's free. You won't be sorry.

The story line has already been reviewed so I will not rehash that. I personally prefer a thriller to have a little faster pace than this. It was not a book that kept me on the edge of suspense, and in fact the ending was predictable if you pay attention to what is going on. This book was entertaining and I enjoyed it but it was the type of book to read by the pool in between naps.