The Successor - Hardcover

Camp, Roderic Ai

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826314201 ISBN 13: 9780826314208

Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr, 1993

Synopsis

Professor Kent Cornett's research on presidential succession in Mexico is taking unexpected turns. What is always a high-stakes affair wrapped in secrecy - just how the president of Mexico handpicks his successor - now becomes a backdrop for murder and intrigue. A librarian in Mexico City who for years has helped Kent is suddenly brutally murdered; Kent is courted by agents of the United States intelligence community who seek his help in conducting espionage in Mexico; and he finds his every move shadowed in both countries.
When Kent began studying the background of the three leading candidates to become Mexico's next president, he expected the work would result in another scholarly publication. Now he just hopes he can sort out what he has unwittingly uncovered in time to prevent more deaths, including his own.
Why Kent's research so threatens to disrupt naming the new president of Mexico makes for a fast-paced political thriller. By entwining the worlds of academia and international politics, this novel authentically reveals the inner workings of Mexico's political culture and Washington's interest in hemispheric stability while probing ethics and security issues in both countries.

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Reviews

In this listless thriller, mild-mannered college professor Kent Cornett's life shifts into high gear when his research into the Mexican presidential race uncovers a deadly conspiracy hatched by one of that country's most prominent politicians. Cornett, recognized by American intelligence officials (who want to recruit him) as the world's top Mexicologist, travels south of the border to get the inside track on likely candidates. The Mexico City librarian who had assisted him with previous research disappears, but a mysterious "friend" slips him a package of classified documents containing a startling secret about one of the candidates. Widower Kent becomes romantically involved with pretty divorcee Gina Burns, who persuades her brother, the American ambassador, to send Kent's package home to Minnesota in the diplomatic pouch. National Security agents now watch Kent's every move, trying to protect him from the murderous Mexicans who want him dead. Camp ( Memoirs of a Mexican Politician ), a political science professor at Tulane University, fills his novel with authentic detail about Mexican government--indeed it often reads like a primer on Mexican politics. As fiction, however, it is marred by a weak premise, bland plot twists and campy dialogue. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Dense thriller meant to explain Mexican political thought to Americans. Professor Kent Cornett, much like author Camp (Political Science/Tulane), has written several nonfiction books about Mexican politics. Here, it's 1999 and in a few months, at the turn of the millennium, Mexico is about to change presidents--an event usually brought about by the reigning president choosing his successor, who will inevitably be brought into office in the following election. Three high politicos are thought to be ripe choices for the presidency, but each has his own personal agenda that may well affect relations with the US. Kent is perhaps the leading scholar on the subject and has researched all the candidates thoroughly. In Mexico, the histories of politicians--unlike those of politicians in the States--are kept murky and indeed are supremely confidential information. But Kent has done his job too well and become a figure in the cross-hairs of assassination. Which possible presidential successor is out to kill him? Meanwhile, in the States, a secret governmental agency is also after Kent to reveal what he knows and has agents trailing him who successfully thwart a number of murder attempts. Widower Kent falls in love with beautiful divorc‚e Gina, and together they are on the run while Kent refines his information and seeks records to expose the killers. Little does he know, while bodies drop around him, that the Mexican plot is a sideshow to the real coup meant to take place in Honduras. Bouncy suspense and a satisfying love story--and readers will welcome Kent/Camp's sympathetic treatment of Mexicans, not only the poverty-stricken but also intellectuals. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Set in 1999, this political thriller highlights Mexico's current political situation. A U.S. scholar uncovers damaging secrets that two presidential candidates for the presidency of Mexico will go to any length to preserve. Relying on his own nonviolent wit and the moral support of a new lady friend, the scholar strives in secret to right the course of Mexican democracy. Shocked at the killing of every researcher who helps him, he soon finds himself battling murderous attempts on his own life. Camp handily works his rich lode of knowledge about Mexico, gained while researching his 12 books on the country (he is also a professor of political science at Tulane University). Knocking away every south-of-the-border stereotype, Camp has written an intelligent, intricately plotted saga, enjoyable equally as an action-packed adventure and a call to awareness of this neglected and explosive nation. Camp is an LJ reviewer.--Ed.
- Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826314201
• ISBN 13: 9780826314208
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 294