This is book 2 of the "Presidential Agent" series.

This note contains spoilers for the book.

Second book in the new series. I don't see that it has anything do do with a hostage, now that I've read it.

Like the first book in this series, I wasn't sure at all how it was going to be concluded until very near the end (beyond that military action would settle things, I mean). In this one there was considerable luck with the FBI recognizing the missing American as being the same as a local expatriate Lebanese. So they go get him, but 6 gunmen show up and manage to assassinate him. Meaning that they don't get to learn what he knew (he was chief bagman for the oil-for-food scandal, apparently). Also the announced purpose of all this, to find the killers of an Embassy official, hasn't been fulfilled. But the new Secretary of Intelligence and the President decide this outcome is just as good. I think they're crazy.

Remember how I mentioned he hadn't included Argentina in his previous book? Well, the major action of this book takes place in Argentina, so I think this is now the book that contains every single one of Griffin's hobby-horses in one place (there's even a derelict Aero Commander they park next to at one of the airports, which never plays any other role).

Despite the negative tone I see here, I quite enjoyed reading this book. Just, it's not going to excite somebody who isn't already a Griffin fan. He hasn't started to get badly sloppy yet, as he always seem to do after a while in a series.