Mysterious Press
336 Pages
I almost never do book reviews of books that are a part of a series, especially if the book is in the middle of the series. FDR Drive by James Comey breaks those rules. To be clear, this book is the third and latest book in the Nora Carleton series. I have read both other books in the series, and this one is the best of the three and has the best underlying message of them as well. For these reasons, I’ve decided to break my own rules about writing book reviews. Since I made the rules, I guess I can bend them when the need arises.
Everyone knows who James Comey is. He’s in the news all the time, and generally not for the greatest things. Because of this, some of you may avoid this book based upon your political proclivities. That would be a mistake. As a former law enforcement officer and director of the FBI, Comey has a unique expertise in the area of his writing. I’ve read the other two books in this series and loved them, too. While I am a completist when it comes to reading series, you could read this as a stand alone.
Nora Carleton returns to her role as a federal prosecutor. Immediately, there’s danger just over the horizon and it's hurtling straight at her, whether she likes it or not. Domestic terrorism threatens not only the United States, but also the international community at the United Nations. An alt-right social media podcaster is riling up his masses. Without explicitly telling them to do so, he leads them on with enough hints that his political adversaries end up dead. And the young woman who can’t take it anymore suffers the same fate when she dares to speak out against him.
But he’s only the face, or rather voice, of the movement. Who is moving in the shadows? Who holds the real power and is bankrolling the movement to remake the country in their image? Those are the people who Nora needs to uncover and take down. Will she and her team be able to do it before the next body drops? Whoever is behind this is ready to escalate. Nora must get to the truth before an untold tragedy strikes her city and country.
James Comey uses his experience to dive deep into the shadowy empire of extremist politics. This story could have been plucked from the headlines. It makes the reader wonder if there was a cabal planned like this that his FBI was able to thwart. At any rate, Comey rips off scene after scene, each one a nail-biter. HIs narrative shows how difficult it can be in reality to bring down cells and operations like the one detailed in this novel.
FDR Drive by James Comey is strikingly scary. It reads so true to the political atmosphere that has taken over our country over the last two decades that you will wonder how close this scenario actually is. If you want to be scared straight, take a journey down FDR Drive. We may be able to regain the trust we used to have in one another and stand together to keep the insane extremes at bay. Obi-Wan, you are our only hope.
Craig Bacon wants to believe that the best of humanity will ultimately prevail.