Exclusive

In this, her most ambitious novel yet, Sandra Brown weaves a tale of murder, passion and intrigue in the pristine corridors of the White House. Amazon.com Review Watergate, Schmatergate, get a load of this: a dead infant, a sleazy president, a manic-depressive first lady, an aide that makes G. Gordon Liddy look like a wuss, murder, adultery, a thousand skeletons peeping from a thousand closets. Exclusive moves so quickly because somebody is always doing something bad. TV journalist Barrie Travis interviews the first lady, a Southern belle still mourning the death of her infant. With a mixture of horror and self-interest, Travis perceives the slightest hint that the first infant didn't merely die, but was murdered. But by who, and why? As you can imagine, that's when it gets messy. The book might capsize under the sheer weight of seamy scandals and sleazy characters were it not for the almost-supernaturally spunky Travis and her somewhat reluctant love-object, craggy ex-Marine Gray Bondurant. Bondurant left the White House under a cloud. Was he the first lady's lover? Travis and Bondurant come together to solve the mystery, of course. If you read fast, you might just keep up. From Publishers Weekly 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. An ace reporter investigates the suspicious death of her best friend's baby in this #1 New York Times bestselling political thriller of murder, passion, and intrigue in the White House. Barrie Travis is not famous; she's just a damn good reporter stuck at a low-budget television station. Then, her old friend -- now America's First Lady -- asks her to investigate the death of her baby. Stunned by grief after the loss of her infant son, the President's wife hints that her child didn't really die of SIDS; in reality, he may have been murdered. Blind to everything but finding the truth, Barrie delves into the private lives of the president and his wife and uncovers dark and terrible secrets that will test her ethics, her patriotism, and her courage. With the help of Gray Bondurant, a mysterious former presidential aide, this story could topple the presidency and change the course of history. In this fast-moving tale from a master of suspense, Barrie must fight powerful forces that want nothing more than to see the scandalous past -- and a certain young reporter -- dead and buried. Barrie Travis is not famous: she's just a damn good reporter stuck at a low-budget television station. Then the First Lady calls her...and offers her the story of a lifetime. The president's wife, stunned by grief after the loss of her infant son, hints that her child may have been murdered. Blind to everything but finding the truth, Barrie's fight for an exclusive story will test her ethics, her patriotism, and her courage. Then, with the help of Gray Bondurant, a mysterious former presidential aide, she unearths White House secrets that, if exposed, could topple the presidency. Now, even as she falls in love, Barrie must fight powerful forces that want nothing more than to see the scandalous past - and a certain young reporter - dead and buried.