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President Rock holds a secret meeting to reveal his plan to bring peace to the Middle East by destroying Israel after he’s reelected—but a paradoxical turn of events causes his secret to come into the hands of an industrious blackmailer. Not wanting his secret revealed, President Rock does the only thing he can: he eliminates those who have become a threat to his reelection.
White House janitor Robert Johnson comes across an accidental taping of the meeting held by President Rock. He also does the only thing he can: he attempts to blackmail the President and make a boat-load of money. But it’s not as easy as he thinks. When his apartment blows up behind him after he steps out to smoke a cigarette, he realizes that he may have made a huge mistake.
The President’s Secret might have been a good political thriller in the hands of a more talented writer. Instead, we get mediocre characters and a plot without much depth. I had to push myself to finish it, so I could get a review done without too much of a delay.
Robert Johnson is a bit dim—and he’s a whiner, too—so he’s not a very pleasant character to spend time with. However, Joel Drummond, the man dedicated to helping Robert, is the only half-way interesting character in the whole book—though even he lacks full potential as a mysterious character with connections.
Meanwhile, politics and religion don’t mix very well in The President’s Secret. It’s as if author Martin Kurzer didn’t know what kind of novel he wanted to write. At one point, he goes into a long explanation of Christianity and Jewish history, which has no real relevance to the plot, other than to educate Robert.
In addition, the author’s all-knowing point-of-view intrudes on the story to the point of annoyance. I don’t want an author to tell me what’s going to happen to the character in the future; I want him to show me when it happens.
So if you like your political thrillers with more substance, look elsewhere. With its lazy plot and second-rate characters, The President’s Secret won’t satisfy you.
