Last Snow by Eric Van Lustbader

Over the years, Van Lustbader has written some fairly good novels, from his early fantasy in the Dai San series, to one of the Bourne adventures. Unfortunately, this one isn't really some of his best work. In fact, I grew so disillusioned with it that I gave up rapidly, and had to look up the characters' names just to write this review.

It's the sequel to an earlier work about Jack McClure, an ATF agent who once saved the President's daughter from a sadistic kidnapper, First Daughter. In this book, McClure is traveling with the President's entourage in Russia when the president sends him on a mission to investigate the death of a Senator in Capri. He gets sidetracked on the way by interfering in a squabble between a Russian mafia thug and his mistress, who turns out to be a secret agent for the FSB, then picks up another impediment in his investigation in the form of the president's daughter stowing away on his plane.

All of these people have deep psychological disturbing issues in their past, and the book begins to read more like a soap opera than a thriller after a while. It's a pity; I thought I could count on Mr. Van Lustbader for a good read.