Exclusive - Hardcover

Brown, Sandra

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446519782 ISBN 13: 9780446519786

Publisher: Grand Central Pub, 1996

Synopsis

A second-stringer with first-class talent, Barrie Travis is stuck at a low-budget independent television station struggling to survive among the giant networks. Then, suddenly, she receives an invitation from First Lady Vanessa Merritt for an off-the-record conversation. Barrie's reporter's instincts are instantly aroused.
During a furtive, emotionally charged meeting, Barrie sees that the President's beautiful wife is stunned by grief after the crib death of her infant son. Vanessa's motive for meeting Barrie seems to be to share her heartache with another woman. What Barrie overlooks in her excitement at hearing the confidences of the First Lady are the questions she should be asking: Why would Vanessa Merritt call her? And why would the President's wife hint to an unknown reporter that her child may have been murdered?
Blind to everything but getting her exclusive, Barrie is determined to investigate the death of the President's child. But she soon realizes that getting her story will test her ethics and her patriotism. Would she expose information that could topple the presidency? She confronts this problem when she tracks down Gray Bondurant, a former presidential aide and war hero who shunned the politics of Washington in favor of life on a remote Wyoming ranch. And when they both begin to follow a trail of lies and intrigue right to the White House door, Barrie's exclusive puts at least three people on the firing line: the First Lady, Gray, and herself - as crimes and ambitions combine to endanger their lives and the future of the nation.

About this title

About the Author

Sandra Brown is the author of 57 New York Times bestsellers.

Reviews

YA-Scandal strikes the First Family. How exactly did the President and First Lady's only child die? According to the White House, the baby died of sudden infant death syndrome. According to the ambitious female news reporter, Barrie Travis, their story veils the truth. Unfortunately, Barrie suffers from a tarnished reputation, because once she was too quick to report without checking her facts first. Joining with an enigmatic former presidential aide and a retired news editor, she uncovers the real story. It reveals the ugly side of too much ambition, too little moral character, and an overload of revenge. While chasing leads and villains, the reporterfalls in love with a man she believes is romantically involved with the First Lady. A very readable book in which the mystery lingers to the final sentence.
Linda Diane Townsend, formerly of Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The newborn son of the president and the first lady has died suddenly. Was his death a tragic consequence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)-or was it murder? Brown (The Witness) pulls out the stops in this nimbly plotted political thriller that pits a down-on-her-luck TV journalist against a popular chief executive. Barrie Travis is looking for her ticket out of a second-rate Washington, D.C., TV station, but she has a reputation as a screw-up with little credibility. When First Lady Vanessa Merritt hints to her that the baby's death may not have been due to SIDS after all, Barrie has the big story she needs-but who will believe her? Before Barrie can learn more from the First Lady, President David Merritt sends his wife "into seclusion," where she's heavily drugged and kept under close guard. Determined to uncover the truth, Barrie travels to Wyoming to question the man rumored to have been Vanessa's lover and possibly the father of her child, military hero Gray Bondurant. After a sexually charged meeting with the reclusive Gray, the reporter returns to Washington to find her townhouse bombed into rubble and the FBI asking too many questions. Can she, with Gray's help, rescue the First Lady and expose the president's secret? Despite merely serviceable prose, Brown's intricate weave of false leads, sinister motives and long-hidden truths is engrossing. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections; author tour. (June) ~ FYI: Brown, 47, didn't publish her first novel until age 33. She's now written 60 novels, several under the pen names Laura Jordan, Rachel Ryan and Erin St. Claire. In the past five years, 24 of her books have made the New York Times bestseller lists.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A beach-bag shoo-in: With trademark zing and vigor, Brown (Charade, 1994, etc.) takes on the White House. Television newswoman Barrie Travis is surprised by an out-of- the-blue call from First lady Vanessa Merritt (an old schoolmate) asking her to meet for lunch at an off-the-beaten-path Washington cafe. Even more surprising is Vanessa's strange manner and suggestive conversation at the rendezvous, leading Barrie to suspect that the recent death of Robert Rushton Merritt, the President and Vanessa's only son, may be more of a mystery than it seemed when it was splashed all over the evening news as a classic case of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Barrie knows for sure that she's on to something when the president's smarmy right-hand man, Spencer Martin, starts eliminating her sources and following her tracks; with the help of her best friend Daily, an ex-reporter, and Gray Bondurant, a war hero and former aide to the president who escaped the crooked administration for the wilds of Colorado, Barrie launches a full-scale investigation in search of the answer America doesn't even know it doesn't know: What really happened to the First Son, and just how corrupt are the dashing young president and his lovely, grieving wife? The search uncovers more dirt and danger than Barrie, Daily, or even Gray had imagined, and Barrie's sleazy boss Howie Fripp is more of a hindrance than a help. But, of course, it's not just the mystery that preoccupies Barrie, whose first encounter with the dashing Gray is unforgettable; in the final pages, Brown nails a clever plot twist that will surprise all but the most suspicious of readers. A fine pick for an election year: Brown knows her terrain and has produced a lively, gripping read. (First printing of 350,000; Literary Guild main selection; author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

When Washington reporter Barrie Travis is summoned to interview First Lady Vanessa Merritt, Barrie is sure the meeting will rescue her from the second-rate local TV station where she is languishing. The changes that befall Barrie are anything but what she expected. The First Lady is mysterious and sullen, but Barrie doesn't think much of her odd disposition given that the First Family has just lost a son to SIDS. As Barrie researches SIDS further, however, she realizes that some of Mrs. Merritt's seemingly antidepressant^-induced, off-the-wall comments may stem from the fact that foul play was involved in the baby's death. Barrie, with the help of a former White House confidante, begins to unravel a series of puzzling stories about the First Family, a couple with an apple-pie public image that could rival that of the Kennedys--but the skeletons in the Merritts' collective closet transcend mere extramarital affairs with Hollywood starlets. Best-selling author Sandra Brown has sewn another exciting story line with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. She is particularly successful here in making you feel like you're in the middle of the quagmire called public office. Stock up. Mary Frances Wilkens

Edition details

• Publisher: Grand Central Pub
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0446519782
• ISBN 13: 9780446519786
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 457