Book Review: The Chosen One: Sam Bourne

This is the review of the book 'The Chosen One' by Sam Bourne. I will give it a rating of 3 / 5. 
Maggie Costello is an idealistic journalist who dreams of contributing to make the world a better place. She is a part of a core campaign committee that helped elect Stephen Baker to be the President of the United State. Baker is also an idealist who shares Maggie's interest in using the bully pulpit of US in making the world a better place. One of his project is to have an oversight over Darfur, Sudan where sectarian killings had become a norm rather than an exception. Maggie is tasked with driving this initiative which she is very happy to do. 

Just about 60 days into the presidency disaster strikes. A man who calls Vic Forbes,  releases two devastating news about Stephen Baker passed in quick succession. First was that in his younger days, Baker had sought 'psychiatric help'. Just as Baker manages to tide over this one, Forbes releases his second bombshell, that Baker had accepted campaign contributions from an Iranian spy without doing a necessary due diligence.

President's team is flummoxed. Who is Vic Forbes? Is he working alone? If so, what has he got against POTOS? If he is working for someone, who is he working for?

While Baker's team is discussing the plan of action news comes that Vic Forbes is found dead in his apartment in New Orleans. Maggie is sent to investigate and get to the bottom of this whole episode.  While police declared this to be a death due to suicide, Maggie manages entry into Forbes' house (by bribing a black police officer, how is that for stereotyping?) there she manage to get hold of a Pager given by New Orleans hotel.

Reaching the hotel she finds that Forbes was a regular there and in the previous night he had left with a beautiful lady. Maggie suspects that Vic Forbes was murdered somewhere else and the body taken and hung at  his house to make it appear to be a suicide.

While waiting at the funeral of Forbes, Maggie comes to know that Forbes was a retired CIA officer and that he must have kept a 'blanket', A code for cover, in the form of some secret information or directions that the CIA operatives use to protect themselves.

Now there are two angles that Maggie must investigate. One, what was the blanket that Vic Forbes was maintaining. It was clear that he was working on his own. What had he got against Baker?

Two, what was the huge secret about Baker that Forbes was supposed to reveal before he was killed. The two that he has revealed were devastating. Already an impeachment motion was initiated against Baker. And Forbes has promised before his death that the next one will be even more so.

Buy the book The Chosen One @Amazon.

To investigate the first question, Maggie checks the school records of Forbes. She finds that both Forbes and Baker had spent a year in the same school. Before Baker joined, Forbes was the captain of the school debate team. Baker replaced him and, Forbes was never the same person again.

That explained the rivalry.

To get answer to the second question, Maggie, searches for Forbes' 'blanket' that he had stored in the deep net. Maggie finds the site Vicforbes.gov, is password protected. Maggie, the password finder, deduces that the password must be 'STEPHENBAKER', an lo (and of course behold !!), it turns out to be the correct password.

The blanket that Forbes has its a photo of Baker in front of Meredith hotel in Aberdeen. Maggie learned that on the day of the prom Baker was spending the night with Panel Everett, the most beautiful girl in the school. During the night there was a fire and Baker escaped leaving Pamela to fire. Had this photo come out, it would have shown Baker as a coward, and that would have been the end of his presidency.

Lots of things were becoming clearer except for one thing. Who killed Forbes? And why?

One angle pointed to Baker himself. He clearly benefited from the sudden death of Forbes. Maggie could not bring herself to believe it. That was not the Baker she knew.

This is where Maggie's friend Nick, an investigative journalist comes into the picture. He finds that on the day b Forbes was killed, a plane has taken off from a remote airfield in New Orleans. The plane belonged to a company whose only customer was a bank.

Nick is killed (obviously!!). Before he died, he had saved the critical details on the web in a password protected file. Based on his last words, Maggie guesses the password. 

From here the plot moves along. I won't bore you with the ending, except to say it could have been better.

I want to end this review with two points. One is the close parallels with Obama presidency. There is the young and idealistic president, the close knit first family with their struggles to bring up their two children away from the limelight of presidency, the senior black Vice President, a young and enthusiastic campaign team. Even the gate crashing in one of his state dinners is obliquely covered.

Final point is that this book for have been more tightly edited. It flattered to deceive. A sub-par ending is one issue. A good book is one that leaves the reader completely satisfied. This book fails in that endeavour. It leaves a number of unanswered questions. Why we some of the people killed, for example Stuvart, a close confidante of Baker? Why did Jackson change his name to Forbes? What was the purpose of those Iranian dispatches? Why were the password so obvious? I mean STEPHENBAKER, gimme a break.. What was the purpose of firing Maggie at the beginning of the book (Probably because it is a continuation from his previous book, The Testement, where Maggi is the lead character)? How was Maggie able to walk around with broken ribs? When she found that the brakes of her car were not working, why she did not take the foot off the gas?..

Too many questions...

Perhaps the best way to read this book is the way you watch some of the Indian movies "Just read and enjoy. Don't ask questions."

Buy the book The Chosen One @Amazon.