Absolute Power is a gripping political thriller that pits the powerful elite against everyday people. An interesting, suspenseful plot, well-developed characters, and just the right amount of action make this novel an engaging and entertaining read/listen.

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I read Absolute Power as part of the 2025 Thoughtful Reading Challenge. August’s challenge was to read a political thriller because August is the month when Nixon resigned the Presidency back in 1974. Like Nixon, this story also includes a President forced out of office for criminal activities, but trust me, the President in Absolute Power was guilty of far worse crimes than Nixon. Sorry I’m a bit late with this review. I’ll blame it on this being a 19-hour audiobook. (The book is 560 pages, so it’s a bit of a commitment.)

I’ll begin with an Absolute Power summary, and there will be spoilers.

Luther Whitney should be on his way to retirement, but instead, he’s trapped behind a two-way mirror witnessing the unthinkable. A long-time thief, Luther spent months planning this robbery of a rich man’s home. The occupants are supposed to be out of town, so Luther is startled to hear someone else entering the house. Since he just cracked the walk-in safe, which is really more like a closet, he hides in there.

He’s surprised to find that the door of the safe is a two-way mirror that provides a view of the master bedroom, including its bed. He’s even more surprised by the identities of the two people who soon enter the room – Christine Sullivan, young wife of the old, rich man who owns the house, and the President of the United States.

It’s clear they are there for a tryst, but when the President gets rough during foreplay, things quickly go south. Christine defends herself against strangulation with a sharp letter opener and even manages to stab the President in the arm. When it looks like she’s going for his heart, he screams, and two Secret Service agents rush in and shoot her dead. And the cover up begins.

Luther not only witnessed the shooting, but he has a front row seat to observe the cleansing of the crime scene, overseen by the President’s ambitious, female chief of staff. When the moment is right, Luther grabs the letter opener and escapes through a window. Agents give chase, but Luther manages to evade them. And the setup begins.

How’s that for the opening scene of a novel?

The detective assigned to the case, Seth Frank, is smart and experienced, and he thinks there is something fishy about the crime scene and the lack of evidence. On the surface, it looks like Christine interrupted a burglary in process, so why was she facing away from the gunmen and why did the burglars scrub under her fingernails?

The pieces of the puzzle slowly come together. Luther flees the country and then returns. He blackmails the White House, mostly to create a money trail. Through some very detailed detective work, he’s identified as the burglar, which puts two targets on his head. It’s a race to see who will kill him first – an assassin hired by Christine’s husband or a pair of rogue Secret Service agents who are dutifully following the President’s orders.

Luther is taken into custody, but he’s not on his own. The former boyfriend of his estranged daughter, who has public defender experience, forces a reluctant Luther to let him represent him. Luther is scared but isn’t revealing anything, which makes it nearly impossible for Jack to develop a defense. When Luther is inevitably murdered, Jack is determined to find justice for him.

Although Luther was tight-lipped about what he witnessed, he did have a contingency plan that would be activated if anything happened to him. When Jack receives the first element of the backup plan – the letter opener with the President’s blood on it – he’s plunged into danger, running from the law, and finds himself with an unlikely ally – Detective Seth Frank.

A long summary of a long book.

I enjoyed Absolute Power, despite some inconsistent pacing. It’s based on a very interesting concept and fueled by the mistaken notion that powerful people are above the law. I like that ordinary people disproved that notion.

The characters are suitably villainous or likeable. The head villain is the President, and he is closely followed by his morally bankrupt Chief of Staff. It is rather difficult to believe two Secret Service agents would go off the rails like that, nonetheless they added strong elements of menace and danger to the story. (In the version of Absolute Power I listened to, the author recorded a message at the end singing the praises of the brave men and women of the Secret Service. I took that as a subtle apology for portraying two of their agents as deranged killers).

The good guys include Luther, Jack, and Seth. Despite his thieving ways, Luther is portrayed as a trustworthy man whose conscience can’t bear that he didn’t intervene when the President was roughing up Christine. I suppose that’s possible… Jack is a heroic, resourceful character who overcomes extreme odds to get justice for Luther. And Seth is a good detective and decent man who wants to do the right thing even though it might mean bending some rules.

Absolute Power has strong themes of the corruption of power, accountability and justice, family loyalty, and moral compromises. They are all executed well and sometimes the characters’ moral dilemmas had me thinking about what I would do if I were in their shoes.

I recommend Absolute Power to fans of political thrillers and readers who like stories about good versus evil.

If you read a political thriller in August, please tell us all about it. And if you have any political thriller recommendations, please share!

**Reminder – September’s challenge is to read a science fiction book, preferably one that takes place in space.