The President's Shadow

By: Brad Meltzer

Series: Beecher White, #3

ISBN: 9780446553933

Publisher: Grand Central

Publication Date: 6/16/2015

Format: Hardcover

My Rating: 4 Stars

A severed arm, found buried in the White House Rose Garden.

A lethal message with terrible consequences for the Presidency.And a hidden secret in one family's past that will have repercussions for the entire nation.

Following The Inner Circle and The Fifth Assassin, #1 bestselling author Brad Meltzer returns with . . .

THE PRESIDENT'S SHADOW There are stories no one knows. Hidden stories. I find those stories for a living. To most, it looks like Beecher White has an ordinary job. A young staffer with the National Archives in Washington, D.C., he's responsible for safekeeping the government's most important documents . . . and, sometimes, its most closely held secrets.

But there are a powerful few who know his other role. Beecher is a member of the Culper Ring, a 200-year-old secret society founded by George Washington and charged with protecting the Presidency.Now the current occupant of the White House needs the Culper Ring's help. The alarming discovery of the buried arm has the President's team in a rightful panic. Who buried the arm? How did they get past White House security? And most important: What's the message hidden in the arm's closed fist? Indeed, the puzzle inside has a clear intended recipient, and it isn't the President. It's Beecher, himself.

Beecher's investigation will take him back to one of our country's greatest secrets and point him toward the long, carefully hidden truth about the most shocking history of all: family history.

About the Author

Brad Meltzer is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Inner Circle, The Book of Fate, and seven other bestselling thrillers including The Tenth Justice, Dead Even, The First Counsel, The Millionaires, The Zero Game, The Book of Lies, and his newest, The Fifth Assassin.

In addition to his fiction, Brad is one of the only authors to ever have books on the bestseller list for Non-Fiction (History Decoded), Advice (Heroes for My Son and Heroes for My Daughter), Children’s Books (I Am Amelia Earhart and I Am Abraham Lincoln) and even comic books (Justice League of America), for which he won the prestigious Eisner Award.

He is also the host of Brad Meltzer’s Lost History on H2 and Brad Meltzer’s Decoded on the History Channel. The Hollywood Reporter recently put him on their list of Hollywood’s 25 Most Powerful Authors.

Raised in Brooklyn and Miami, Brad is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Columbia Law School. The Tenth Justice was his first published work and became an instant New York Times bestseller. Dead Even followed a year later and also hit the New York Times bestseller list, as have all eight of his novels.

For sure, it’s tough to find anyone being so successful in so many different mediums of the popular culture. But why does Brad thrive in all these different professions? His belief that ordinary people change the world. It is that core belief that runs through every one of his projects. Brad currently lives in Florida with his wife, who’s also an attorney. Website Twitter

My Review

A special thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Washingtonian, now Floridan, Brad Meltzer returns with a riveting historical fiction suspense conspiracy thriller with THE PRESIDENT’S SHADOW (Beecher White #3). Beecher’s investigation takes him back to one of the country’s greatest secrets which may be connected to his own family history. A complex novel of power, intrigue, and the emotional pull of family, and the underbelly of the government's darkest hidden secrets. “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” Mark Twain Every President has secrets and so does the First Lady. After she finds a severed arm in the White House rose garden, Beecher White is called in to consult by President Orson Wallace. White is a member of Culper Ring, a group founded by George Washington to protect the presidency, with only six members. Beecher and Wallace have a former relationship, as he once saved Wallace’s life. Washington, DC based, Beecher White thrives on hidden secret stories and lies. He specializes in people’s secrets. Top Secret. Since he works in the National Archives, he finds these stories for a living, and most of them are family stories. When people search for family, they are really searching for themselves. Beecher agrees to help especially when he learns the dead man’s hand was clutching a flattened penny, and could be a link to the mysterious death many years before of none other than Beecher’s father. Beecher’s father was a mechanic in the Army. He was told his dad died when he was a baby in a car crash on a bridge. Now he finds there was no bridge or a car accident and a handwritten letter his dad wrote a week after his supposed death. He has no clue the real truth. The one thing he cannot stop thinking about: You do not cover up someone’s death unless there is a reason to cover it up. Why would the White House request the military files that hold information of his dead father? Melter's protagonist, Beecher will keep fans page-turning into the night, with edge-of-your seat, fast paced gripping suspense mixed with history, politics, drama, and dark hidden secrets, leaving readers anxiously awaiting the next in the series. I enjoyed reading the acknowledgements from the author, and the author’s personal experience, as well as the assistance of President George H. W. Bush and First Ladies Barbara and Laura Bush, as well as others named with special inspiration, thanks, and gratitude. A well-researched, fascinating political thriller with twists and turns, for an action-filled engaging roller coaster ride! Fans of David Baldacci will devour, as well as history buffs, and lovers of skillful and clever blending of past and present, with historical fact and fiction. Looking forward to the next in the series./i> Got to love our Floridan authors!

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