First Victim

Spousal abuse in the White House is the unlikely theme of this debut novel, which proves that it takes more than insider's knowledge, media savvy and a high-profile concept to write a decent political thriller. MacKinnon, who worked as a writer for Presidents Reagan and Bush before becoming a syndicated columnist and Beltway PR man, has not acquired the skill of spinning a good yarn. Beautiful, likable Sabrina Ryan seems an ideal First Lady when her husband, Turner, the Governor of California, wins the race for President. But Sabrina is the longtime victim of her husband's rages. Though she is artful at hiding her bruises, Turner soon considers her expendable and plots to get her out of his life. His loathsome behavior is echoed by other government personnel, even as danger is rising from an assassin's plot. While MacKinnon keeps the narrative moving quickly, a tin ear and heavy fictional hands are evident in too many sentences along the lines of: ""During his entire life, he had never known a woman who had ever been raped. Let alone, by her husband. Let alone, by the President-Elect."" Even the supposedly sympathetic characters, like press secretary Duncan Smith, are unintentionally subverted as MacKinnon over-uses scatological and/or racist language to suggest the stress of political life, or labors to make insider information take the place of real characterization. (June)