Bargained for Exchange

"Edge of your seat", "can't put down" international legal thriller with frighteningly strong parallels to today's terrorist situation - though written long before 9/11. Its multiple plot lines, alternating between a southern U.S. college campus, a Middle Eastern terrorist organization infiltrating the same college campus, and deadly events on the other side of the world, result in a fast-paced story line in the style of Tom Clancy and Stephen Coonts. Central character John Cann's principled disagreement with the President of the United States results in his exile of sorts to a small southern law school expecting nothing more than a year's sabbatical as visiting scholar in a bucolic and thoughtful environment. Not only does he find that academia is not the bastion of tolerance and reason that it works so hard to portray itself as, but his own past and present come into play as events cross the Atlantic and span the world only to come back to roost in a spiral of intrigue, terrorism, mystery, and violence that affect both the very innocent and the very guilty. Macomber's character development is particularly memorable. Cann's calm and stoic exterior in one set of circumstances becomes compassionate and caring in another. His relationship with young student, Janie Reston, can bring the reader to tears. Macomber's intricately woven plot lines, along with his memorable characterizations, leave the reader demanding more. Bargained for Exchange is a must read set apart by its intelligent and articulate hero who is not your average tough guy and characters so real you feel them - for good or ill.