Guest Review: BLOOD TRUST & Giveaway of LAST SNOW

Summary: It was once said that you must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible . . .

Alli Carson has been through her own personal hell. With her father, the President of the United States, recently dead and her mother in a coma from a terrible accident, she has poured herself into her training to become one of the best FBI agents at the Fearington Institute. Her inspiration and solace comes from the one man with whom she has ever felt a kinship, National Security Adviser, Jack McClure. But when Alli becomes the prime suspect in a murder at Fearington, a wide ranging investigation is triggered, involving local homicide detectives,  the secret service, the FBI itself, and Alli’s own uncle, the billionaire lobbyist Henry Carson.  And yet nothing is what it seems.

What follows is a treacherous journey that leads Jack and Alli into a complex web of lies and deceit. Using Jack’s unique gifts to see the through the labyrinth of manipulation, their investigation leads them into the dark heart of the international slave trade, tied to a powerful Albanian crime lord whose ability and influence in global terrorism grows with each day. 

The two find themselves in the crosshairs of vast global enterprise, one that lurks in the shadows of power and has infiltrated Washington and their lives in ways neither of them could ever have imagined. And hidden deep among it all sits a terrifying criminal mastermind, someone fueled by a hatred that can never be quenched, and a mind that knows neither feeling nor mercy. -- Forge

Over the past few years, Booking Pap Pap has read quite a few Eric Van Lustbader novels. In fact, he enjoyed both FIRST DAUGHTER and LAST SNOW (his review). So when I discovered that there was another book in this series available called BLOOD TRUST, I knew he'd want to read this one too. Here are his thoughts:

BLOOD TRUST by Eric Lustbader is the third in a series of suspense thrillers featuring National Security Advisor Jack McClure and presidential daughter Alli Carson. I read FIRST DAUGHTER and LAST SNOW and really looked forward to reading this latest addition to the series. BLOOD TRUST picks up the story one year after the U.S. President is killed in LAST SNOW. Alli is now training to become an FBI agent and is the primary suspect in a murder case. Jack’s belief that Alli is being setup is reinforced when Alli is nearly murdered while under the police-approved custody of her uncle. Jack takes Alli under his care and begins to investigate the murder. Even though Jack is making significant progress in his investigation, he is committed to participate in a U.S. government undercover operation that takes him to Macedonia and Albania. He has no choice but to take Alli with him on this dangerous mission. As if to complete the list of heroes from the prior novel, Jack and Alli are reunited with Russian agent Annika Dementieva who coincidently has a very personal interest in Jack’s mission.

In BLOOD TRUST, Van Lustbader weaves a very complex web involving local police, the FBI, Alli’s uncle and the President as well as real world issues such as bank fraud, international slave trade and terrorist arms dealings. Van Lustbader also brings into play unique issues of the main characters which prove important in solving the mystery. For example, Jack’s and Alli’s relationship, fortified by the strong feelings each has for Jack’s deceased daughter; Jack’s and Annika’s attraction for each other; and Jack’s rare ability to unravel complicated issues.

Van Lustbader does a superb job of taking the reader through a complex entanglement of lies and deceit always leaving the reader unsure of where the clues will lead until the very end. If I have one criticism it’s that some aspects of the story are too similar to LAST SNOW.

For those who like an easy-to-read fast moving suspense novel, I think you will enjoy BLOOD TRUST.

Thanks to AuthorsOnTheWeb for providing a review copy of this novel and to Booking Pap Pap for finding time between his trips to write this review!

Giveaway alert: Thanks to the fine folks at AuthorsOnTheWeb, I have two copies of Mr. Van Lustbader's previous novel LAST SNOW (which just happens to be a New York Times paperback bestseller) to share with two lucky readers. To enter, just fill out the form below before May 17th at 11:59 p.m. ET. I will randomly select and notify the winners the following day. This contest is open to those of you with U.S. and Canada addresses only. Good luck!