When I finished ACOTAR, I was literally in a book hangover. It took me more than 10 days to pick up another book. This book “The President is Missing” had been staring at me from my book shelf for quite some time. And well, I thought now is the perfect time to give it a go. The book title and the synopsis was perfect. And it’s written by Bill Clinton & James Patterson. What more do I need from a political thriller!
The President of the United States is faced with an impossible task. He is in a race against time to stop a cyber-attack that will cripple the United States. But he cannot announce it publicly as he realizes there is a traitor in the White House. Amidst all this, the President goes missing.
Let’s start with what I liked. It was fast paced. There was enough action at regular intervals. There was intrigue. A race against time. A puzzle to solve. A traitor in the White House. A caring and competent President. In short, the book had all the right elements for a great political thriller. Or so I thought.
Well it turns out I was wrong. It took me around a week to read it when I should have just taken 2 or 3 days at the max. I just couldn’t get into it. Every time I started reading I was falling asleep. Yes I was tired but the book wasn’t captivating enough for me to resist sleep. Initially I thought it was my hangover after reading ACOTAR series that was affecting me. I even had a doubt whether I was going into a reading slump. I just wasn’t interested in reading for long hours.
The book was basically a one man show or rather a one president show even with all of the Secret Service and top tech guys from around the world. The President was ill but still running around dodging bullets, saving the prime witness etc. All of that I could accept. Yes he was a war veteran and so he can easily manage and get through such situations. But he also managed to crack the puzzle on how to beat a virus designed by the world’s top hackers. A virus that couldn’t be deleted or tampered with. A virus that couldn’t be contained by the top tech team from around the world! This drew the line for me. Like seriously! That part was a bit hard for me to accept. He does have a very good team for everything. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be the President who does everything right.
Even the backstory of the traitor didn’t really appeal to me much. It felt made up just for the sake of a backstory. Maybe such things do happen in real politics. But somehow it didn’t sit right with me.
I had really high expectations for this book. Maybe that’s why my disappointment is huge too. There was no wow moment for me in the book. The fact that it had all the right elements and did not really bore me at any point is the only reason I’m giving it a 3⭐.
The book is good enough for a one time read. Sometimes you might like it better than I did. If you like political thrillers, you can definitely give this book a try.