Publisher's Weekly
The sure touch that produced veteran novelist Wallace's bestsellers ( The Second Lady ) isn't detectable in this faltering political thriller with all the subtlety of a comic strip. Following the assassination of President Prem Sang of Lampang, an island nation in the South China Sea, his Wellesley-educated wife, Noy Sang, assumes power. When she arrives in Washington to ask President Matt Underwood for a huge loan, Underwood is so smitten that he impulsively gives Lampang an even heftier sum. Formerly a TV anchorman, this chief executive has an enchanting manner, a nonchalant management style, ``middle-age syn drome'' and a shrewish wife who was once Miss America. Ignoring his responsibilities, Underwood periodically dashes off to join Noy, even though their inadvisable frolic on a Lampang beach is revealed by an investigative reporter. When a dangerous political foe orders her kidnapped, of course the president valiantly charges in and shoots one of her captors. These buffoonish characters give their sexual urges top priority--Underwood runs for reelection merely to prolong his affair with Noy. Heads of state never looked so pitifully befuddled. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates.

Library Journal
Imagine a President Aquino clone visiting a President Reagan type to obtain a huge loan in return for a U.S. air base near China. Then imagine that they fall in love and that (horrors!) she is kidnapped by her defense minister. Further, imagine that the Reagan character launches, in person, the search for his new true love. Add in a few peripheral characters who provide various services and the sex interest. What you get is the 18th novel by a best-selling author whose loyal fans may have to dig pretty deep to find reasons to admire this weary story. For summer reading, this brief, slick concoction chugs along reliably, revealing a plot linked to the current news. If the dialogue is a little homogenized or the development too mechanical, fans will still get a dose of Wallace-style fantasy.-- Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress