Flying High
Hot Pursuit is Stuart Wood’s 33rd book featuring the rich, high-flying, well-connected lawyer, Stone Barrington. Not having read any of the previous 32 books, I didn’t know what to expect.
The book begins with Barrington taking delivery of his new private jet. The one flying the plane and training him, is a young, blonde, amply endowed, female pilot, Pat Frank. In no time, they have hooked up, but he does not treat her as just another conquest; he helps her in many ways, and worries about her safety. Turns out, she is being stalked by not one, but two, armed and dangerously nutty ex-boyfriends.
The other track here is Barrington’s friendship with the new US President, Katherine Lee and her husband, First Gentleman, William. Because of this, he is invited to her swearing in ceremony at Washington and the many parties afterwards. For this, his date is the powerful Holly Barker, just appointed to join the President’s Security Council.
While Barrington is wining and dining with the New York police chief and an up-and-coming political figure Everett Salton at a super-exclusive club, the action shifts to Holly’s new assistant, Millicent Martindale, who, along with her FBI pal Quentin Philliips has to trace, three potential terrorists that have infiltrated the top echelons of Washington and London. The intelligence bureaus of both countries are roped into the thrill-a-minute tracking of the men they call Three Stooges.
But, there is the also lazy plotting-- two major problems are solved by people accidentally overhearing important conversations. There is too much flying jargon as private jets zoom about, which is boring to read.
The reader is treated to Barrington luxurious lifestyle and acquainted with his VIP pals, but he does not really do much. Since this is my first Woods book, I am not aware of Barrington’s past, but it appears his wealth comes from his dead wife; he has no special talent except flying and bedding the right women—though Woods skips the sex completely, the “business” is completed with a strange prudishness. Stylish he may be, James Bond he is not!
Hot Pursuit
By Stuart Woods
Published by: Putnam
Pages: 352
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