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The Enemy Within
It is early summer of 2009, an uneasy time in the American capital. Washington is tense over a showdown between the United States and the new ruler of Libya.
Laura Chapman is a U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to the White House. She is quirky, solitary, and frequently unorthodox. She is sexy and fit, adept with a pistol as well as with a hundred-pound Everlast bag. But she is also a brilliant intelligence analyst. That’s why she has been assigned to the Presidential Protection Detail for the past eleven years.
The CIA assigns Laura to a case that borders on the an assassination plot against the new president. Shockingly, the trigger man will be a member of the United States Secret Service.
Since the CIA knows that the assassin is male, Laura is not a suspect. The odds are heavily against her locating an alleged assassin within the Service, and even more heavily against her surviving the assignment.
Beyond that, problems First, because of her age and gender, members of the Service as well as agents in the CIA and FBI are waiting for her to fail. Second, Laura’s personal life is in disarray, and her secret drinking is about to get out of hand. Third, the hit is scheduled to take place on July 4, 2009, in the Oval Office. Less than two weeks from now.
As her investigation proceeds, Laura cannot shake the suspicion that there are things she has not been told, that she is being set up. . . . In her increasingly frequent moments of paranoia, she Am I going to be the new Lee Harvey Oswald?
Laura Chapman is a U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to the White House. She is quirky, solitary, and frequently unorthodox. She is sexy and fit, adept with a pistol as well as with a hundred-pound Everlast bag. But she is also a brilliant intelligence analyst. That’s why she has been assigned to the Presidential Protection Detail for the past eleven years.
The CIA assigns Laura to a case that borders on the an assassination plot against the new president. Shockingly, the trigger man will be a member of the United States Secret Service.
Since the CIA knows that the assassin is male, Laura is not a suspect. The odds are heavily against her locating an alleged assassin within the Service, and even more heavily against her surviving the assignment.
Beyond that, problems First, because of her age and gender, members of the Service as well as agents in the CIA and FBI are waiting for her to fail. Second, Laura’s personal life is in disarray, and her secret drinking is about to get out of hand. Third, the hit is scheduled to take place on July 4, 2009, in the Oval Office. Less than two weeks from now.
As her investigation proceeds, Laura cannot shake the suspicion that there are things she has not been told, that she is being set up. . . . In her increasingly frequent moments of paranoia, she Am I going to be the new Lee Harvey Oswald?
512 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 7, 2006
244 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Noel Hynd
62 books218 followers I've been a published novelist for longer than I care to admit, since 1976. I'm frequently asked, however, how I first got published. It's an interesting story and involved both Robert Ludlum and James Baldwin, even though neither of them knew it --- or me --- at the time.
My first agent, a wonderful thorughly perofessional gentleman named Robert Lantz was representing Mr. Baldwin at the time. This was around 1975. Balwin, while a brilliant writer, had had some nasty dealings with the head of Dell Publishing. Dell held Jimmy's contract at the time and he could not legally write for anyone else until he gave Dell a book that was due to them. Nonetheless, he refused to deliver a manuscript to Dell and went to Paris to sit things out.
The book was due to The Dial Press, which Dell owned. Baldwin was widely quoted as saying....and I'm cleaning up the quote here, "that he was no longer picking cotton on Dell's planatation."
The book was due to The Dial Press. The editor in chief of The Dial Press was a stellar editor who was making a name for himself and a fair bit of money for the company publishing thriller-author Robert Ludlum. A best seller every year will do that for an editor. Anyway, Baldwin fled New York for Paris. The editor followed, the asignment being to get him to come happily back to Dial. As soon as the editor arrived, Baldwin fled to Algeria. Or maybe Tunisia. It hardly mattered because Baldwin was furious and simply wouldn 't do a book for Dell/Dial. The editor returned to NY without his quarry. Things were at a standstill.
That's where I entered the story, unpublished at age 27 and knowing enough to keep my mouth shut while these things went down. I had given 124 pages of a first novel to Mr. Lantz ten days eariler. Miraculously, his reader liked it and then HE liked it. It was in the same genre that Ludlum wrote in and which the editor at Dial excelled at editing and marketing.
My agent and the editor ran into each other one afternoon in July of 1974 in one of those swank Manhattan places where people used to have three martinis for lunch. The agent asked how things had gone in Europe. The editor told him, knowing full well that the agent already knew. The next steps would be lawyers, Baldwin dragged into US Courts, major authors boycotting Doubleday/Dell, Dial, maybe some civil rights demonstrations and.......but no so fast.
Mr. Lantz offered Dial the first look at a new adventure/espionage novelist (me). IF Dial wanted me after reading my 124 pages, he could sign me, but only IF Baldwin was released from his obligations at Doubleday. I was the literary bribe, so to speak, that would get Jimmy free from Dial. It seemed like a great idea to everyone. It seemed that way because it was. Paperwork was prepapred and paperwork was signed. Voila!...To make a much longer story short, Dial accepted my novel. The editor instructed me on how to raise it to a professional level as I finished writing it over the next ten months. I followed orders perfectly. I even felt prosperous on my $7500 advance. He then had Dial release Mr. Balwin from his obligation. Not surpringly, he went on to create fine books for other publishers. Ludlum did even batter. Of the three, I'm the pauper but I've gotten my fair share and I'm alive with books coming out again now in the very near future, no small accmplishment. So no complaints from me.
That''s how I got published. I met Ludlum many times later on and Baldwin once. Ludlum liked my name "Noel" and used it for an then-upcoming charcter named Noel Holcroft. That amused me. I don't know if either of them even knew that my career had been in their orbits for a month 1975. They would have been amused. They were both smart gifted men and fine writers in dfferent ways. This story was told to me by one of the principals two years later and another one confirmed it.
Me, I came out of it with my first publishing contract, for a book titled 'Reve
My first agent, a wonderful thorughly perofessional gentleman named Robert Lantz was representing Mr. Baldwin at the time. This was around 1975. Balwin, while a brilliant writer, had had some nasty dealings with the head of Dell Publishing. Dell held Jimmy's contract at the time and he could not legally write for anyone else until he gave Dell a book that was due to them. Nonetheless, he refused to deliver a manuscript to Dell and went to Paris to sit things out.
The book was due to The Dial Press, which Dell owned. Baldwin was widely quoted as saying....and I'm cleaning up the quote here, "that he was no longer picking cotton on Dell's planatation."
The book was due to The Dial Press. The editor in chief of The Dial Press was a stellar editor who was making a name for himself and a fair bit of money for the company publishing thriller-author Robert Ludlum. A best seller every year will do that for an editor. Anyway, Baldwin fled New York for Paris. The editor followed, the asignment being to get him to come happily back to Dial. As soon as the editor arrived, Baldwin fled to Algeria. Or maybe Tunisia. It hardly mattered because Baldwin was furious and simply wouldn 't do a book for Dell/Dial. The editor returned to NY without his quarry. Things were at a standstill.
That's where I entered the story, unpublished at age 27 and knowing enough to keep my mouth shut while these things went down. I had given 124 pages of a first novel to Mr. Lantz ten days eariler. Miraculously, his reader liked it and then HE liked it. It was in the same genre that Ludlum wrote in and which the editor at Dial excelled at editing and marketing.
My agent and the editor ran into each other one afternoon in July of 1974 in one of those swank Manhattan places where people used to have three martinis for lunch. The agent asked how things had gone in Europe. The editor told him, knowing full well that the agent already knew. The next steps would be lawyers, Baldwin dragged into US Courts, major authors boycotting Doubleday/Dell, Dial, maybe some civil rights demonstrations and.......but no so fast.
Mr. Lantz offered Dial the first look at a new adventure/espionage novelist (me). IF Dial wanted me after reading my 124 pages, he could sign me, but only IF Baldwin was released from his obligations at Doubleday. I was the literary bribe, so to speak, that would get Jimmy free from Dial. It seemed like a great idea to everyone. It seemed that way because it was. Paperwork was prepapred and paperwork was signed. Voila!...To make a much longer story short, Dial accepted my novel. The editor instructed me on how to raise it to a professional level as I finished writing it over the next ten months. I followed orders perfectly. I even felt prosperous on my $7500 advance. He then had Dial release Mr. Balwin from his obligation. Not surpringly, he went on to create fine books for other publishers. Ludlum did even batter. Of the three, I'm the pauper but I've gotten my fair share and I'm alive with books coming out again now in the very near future, no small accmplishment. So no complaints from me.
That''s how I got published. I met Ludlum many times later on and Baldwin once. Ludlum liked my name "Noel" and used it for an then-upcoming charcter named Noel Holcroft. That amused me. I don't know if either of them even knew that my career had been in their orbits for a month 1975. They would have been amused. They were both smart gifted men and fine writers in dfferent ways. This story was told to me by one of the principals two years later and another one confirmed it.
Me, I came out of it with my first publishing contract, for a book titled 'Reve
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
August 23, 2017
A 2.5 rating seems about right here. Didn't find the main character at all interesting and the author had her questioning her sanity and whether she would ever have a real life nearly every other chapter. That got annoying. The sub plot involving a Libyan coup really offered nothing to the story which in itself was dull. When your primary plot is "someone is trying to assassinate the president" you need to offer something fresh and unique as there are hundreds of novels of that kind. The author played it safe here sticking to often used formulas.
January 29, 2009
Female Secret Service agent assigned to top secret detail: find the source of and stop a plot to assassinate the new president --from withiin. This was full of twists and turns. I couldn't put it down and wanted to know how it would end.
I do wish some minor aspects of some intertwining stories maybe came together or were developed a bit differently, but overall it was exciting and worth reading.
I do wish some minor aspects of some intertwining stories maybe came together or were developed a bit differently, but overall it was exciting and worth reading.
December 4, 2018
A readable, if too long, thriller about. CIA/Secret Service investigation into a potential presidential assassination. Lead character is interesting but not particularly involving. The writing is fine, but overdone in places, although the plot retains interest throughout. I will,not be specifically seeking out more work by the author, but would read one if it cropped up in my pile.
June 4, 2009
a little to "rah rah USA" for my liking, but entertaining nonetheless
November 19, 2010
This was an enjoyable political/spy thriller. Although I did like his Russian Trilogy books better. They were almost a breathless read.
July 21, 2015
Great story
This was summer reading pleasure Full of action and adventure and hard to put down This was great escapism literature
This was summer reading pleasure Full of action and adventure and hard to put down This was great escapism literature
April 20, 2019
A really good thriller, dealing with Secret Service agent Laura Chapman being recruited by the CIA to investigate a possible assassination of the President by a male agent of the Service. Laura isn't the best candidate for the job as she is almost burned out after years of guarding the President, but she's the only one available to do the job and her career is over if things go wrong. There is also a subplot that has the President dealing with a crisis in the Middle East after Libya shoots down an American reconnaissance jet with missiles that they aren't supposed to have.
I liked the Laura character, with her flaws and self doubt, and the fact that she could kick ass when necessary to get her way. The chapters are very short, alternating between Laura, the crisis in Libya, and the assassin as he prepares for the kill while leaving a trail of bodies behind him.
This is a stay up late to see what happens next type of book and highly recommended.
I liked the Laura character, with her flaws and self doubt, and the fact that she could kick ass when necessary to get her way. The chapters are very short, alternating between Laura, the crisis in Libya, and the assassin as he prepares for the kill while leaving a trail of bodies behind him.
This is a stay up late to see what happens next type of book and highly recommended.
September 25, 2022
Big difference from NH's books I've previously read.
NH is a fairly new author for me. So impressed with his Berlin Series that I have bought several more to read. This particular book was so different from what I'd previously bought that I double checked the author! It wasn't bad, but I struggled to get into it in the beginning. This won't, however, keep me from ready more of this author!
NH is a fairly new author for me. So impressed with his Berlin Series that I have bought several more to read. This particular book was so different from what I'd previously bought that I double checked the author! It wasn't bad, but I struggled to get into it in the beginning. This won't, however, keep me from ready more of this author!
December 8, 2017
Lone wolfe
A who done it spy story crossing continents. Evidences the bureaucracy of government that prevents/allows intrusion and assassination. Left hand right hand secrecy why things go wrong. Well written and chapter's headings set the tone. Not too long. Left with some questions. May need a rereading to satisfy.
A who done it spy story crossing continents. Evidences the bureaucracy of government that prevents/allows intrusion and assassination. Left hand right hand secrecy why things go wrong. Well written and chapter's headings set the tone. Not too long. Left with some questions. May need a rereading to satisfy.
June 7, 2020
Once more an excellently written and researched novel. I found it difficult to put the book down even for mealtimes! Noel's use of vocabulary and language (/s ... I managed with the French but struggled with Spanish) kept me on my toes and added to the strength of his erodite writing. I commend this book to Noel's many existing and hopefully new readers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2020
Entertaining Way to Pass the Time
This book moves along nicely and is plotted well.The main character is a bit over the top but believable. If you lke political and spy novels, this will work when you want an easy read. The ending doesn't hold together as well as the rest of the book but will do. If you like the author's other books, you'll like this one.
This book moves along nicely and is plotted well.The main character is a bit over the top but believable. If you lke political and spy novels, this will work when you want an easy read. The ending doesn't hold together as well as the rest of the book but will do. If you like the author's other books, you'll like this one.
April 2, 2021
Intriguing idea about a president assassination. Unfortunately, I didn't feel present in the scene or engaged and often found myself going back and rereading after zoning out. I like action based plots with mystery, however I felt distracted by the monotonous sentence structure, filtering words, & telling instead of showing. I did appreciate the short chapters which made it go by faster.
December 8, 2017
Good political story
You just can't guess what's going to come and what direction it will come from. Quite a good book, but the grammatical and punctuation errors were really distracting.
You just can't guess what's going to come and what direction it will come from. Quite a good book, but the grammatical and punctuation errors were really distracting.
January 12, 2018
Thoughtful
I would have given 5 stars but there were quite a number of editing misses. The story is long and somewhat slow and repetitive in places but the author keeps you engaged enough to keep going. Overall I enjoyed the story and highly recommend.
I would have given 5 stars but there were quite a number of editing misses. The story is long and somewhat slow and repetitive in places but the author keeps you engaged enough to keep going. Overall I enjoyed the story and highly recommend.
June 19, 2018
An OK read, good plot with some surprising final twist and quite informative on the Secret Service history and role. Character development is OK but not the strong point of the book.
Far too many typos on my Kindle edition, which I found irritating.
Far too many typos on my Kindle edition, which I found irritating.
May 22, 2020
I found the story rambled a bit - though it was interesting in the description of how our bumbling government works--and I wonder how many have died because of incompetent federal employees--have enjoyed Mr. Hynd's other books better but like having a female lead character
January 15, 2022
Great mystery
It got my attention from the very beginning,the pace never slowed . I was enamored with the goings on inside the White house .It felt like I was sitting next to them in the Miami bars. Noel June is a good friend by my fire side on a rainy night.
It got my attention from the very beginning,the pace never slowed . I was enamored with the goings on inside the White house .It felt like I was sitting next to them in the Miami bars. Noel June is a good friend by my fire side on a rainy night.
March 12, 2025
This is an exercise in keeping all the balls in the air,figuratively and literally!
Laura is a career Federal Employee in the Secret Service and perhaps a token gender cipher, but she has intelligence and skills to match!
Laura is a career Federal Employee in the Secret Service and perhaps a token gender cipher, but she has intelligence and skills to match!
February 23, 2017
This book had some problems. First off, the overuse of characters' names. Usually, this happens in conversations, but in this book, the names are just overused everywhere. There is a 4-page chapter where the name "Sam" appears FORTY-SIX times. That's more than TEN TIMES a page. You have to work really, really hard to do that. Maybe there's a literary point for it, but too me, it was annoying and I almost abandoned the book right then.
Then, there's the issue of flying all over the place. At one point, the main character, Laura, zips off to Florida on a Friday evening. From there, decides she needs to be in Texas where she gets caught up in a murder, spending hours with the cops. All this, and she still makes it back to DC in time for her 9am Monday morning meeting. Good thing that she's (a) able to afford and get last minute seats on all these planes, and (b) these planes never run late for any reason.
As for getting tangled up in the murder... Okay, we have a CIA-trained agent and an FBI-trained agent in an alley with The Bad Guy. We've got agents firing away, and NOBODY can hit the bad guy. Then, there's the issue that we're in hand-to-hand combat with this guy, and NOBODY can describe him. What kind of agents are these?? Especially when we've made the point of how rigorously she trains and how great a shot she is in the firing range.
Then we've got the issue of our witness being scared by something. We go to the club where she works, and the club is employing state-of-the art security, including grabbing DNA samples from unsuspecting patrons. At no point does Laura sit down in front of the security footage and say, "Okay, I know my witness was at the club and saw something that scared her enough to send her home to pack, so I'm going to look at this footage and put eyes on every blond guy who walked in here."
Then, we've got the issue of the super bad guy who also has supposedly worked for the secret service at some point in the past and oops, he doesn't realize cellphones can be tracked. Uh, no.
Then, we've got the issue of Laura's boss who apparently hates her. Why did they pick her for this super-sensitive mission if they have no faith in her abilities? No biggie - just a potential assassination attempt on the president. Wouldn't they put their "best of the best" on the case?
I thought this book was going to have a mystical aspect as early on, the main character sees a man who wasn't there in the back seat of her car. No, mysticism in the book and no resolution of this plot point, either. I guess this is supposed to point to her being crazy, but again, you've got a potential presidential assassination plot and you're going to pick an agent wrestling with "the black dog" of depression and anxiety and whatever else emotional issues Laura has?? Doesn't make sense, and that black dog got on my nerves. Didn't seem like the author was real familiar with depression.
All-in-all, kinda just an "eh, whatever" book.
Then, there's the issue of flying all over the place. At one point, the main character, Laura, zips off to Florida on a Friday evening. From there, decides she needs to be in Texas where she gets caught up in a murder, spending hours with the cops. All this, and she still makes it back to DC in time for her 9am Monday morning meeting. Good thing that she's (a) able to afford and get last minute seats on all these planes, and (b) these planes never run late for any reason.
As for getting tangled up in the murder... Okay, we have a CIA-trained agent and an FBI-trained agent in an alley with The Bad Guy. We've got agents firing away, and NOBODY can hit the bad guy. Then, there's the issue that we're in hand-to-hand combat with this guy, and NOBODY can describe him. What kind of agents are these?? Especially when we've made the point of how rigorously she trains and how great a shot she is in the firing range.
Then we've got the issue of our witness being scared by something. We go to the club where she works, and the club is employing state-of-the art security, including grabbing DNA samples from unsuspecting patrons. At no point does Laura sit down in front of the security footage and say, "Okay, I know my witness was at the club and saw something that scared her enough to send her home to pack, so I'm going to look at this footage and put eyes on every blond guy who walked in here."
Then, we've got the issue of the super bad guy who also has supposedly worked for the secret service at some point in the past and oops, he doesn't realize cellphones can be tracked. Uh, no.
Then, we've got the issue of Laura's boss who apparently hates her. Why did they pick her for this super-sensitive mission if they have no faith in her abilities? No biggie - just a potential assassination attempt on the president. Wouldn't they put their "best of the best" on the case?
I thought this book was going to have a mystical aspect as early on, the main character sees a man who wasn't there in the back seat of her car. No, mysticism in the book and no resolution of this plot point, either. I guess this is supposed to point to her being crazy, but again, you've got a potential presidential assassination plot and you're going to pick an agent wrestling with "the black dog" of depression and anxiety and whatever else emotional issues Laura has?? Doesn't make sense, and that black dog got on my nerves. Didn't seem like the author was real familiar with depression.
All-in-all, kinda just an "eh, whatever" book.
November 8, 2017
A gripping thriller. I thought I had figured out who the enemy was, but was wrong.
December 19, 2017
Excellent
I enjoyed this book from start to finish. Excellent reading experience. I will look for more books from this author.
I enjoyed this book from start to finish. Excellent reading experience. I will look for more books from this author.
March 14, 2018
Good story, fast moving plot
Poorly edited but good story. I read it on my Kindle so you might want to try again. Would enjoy a sequel.
Poorly edited but good story. I read it on my Kindle so you might want to try again. Would enjoy a sequel.
April 25, 2019
I'm going to try to finish it but every time my head gets into the story the author's political bias sneaks in and jerks me right out. Good grief, enough already...
July 23, 2021
Good, fun and entertainingly enjoyable
September 8, 2021
Fair
Plot is very confusing. There are too many characters anD I got lost about half way through this book. Did not enjoy.
Plot is very confusing. There are too many characters anD I got lost about half way through this book. Did not enjoy.
October 31, 2021
Ok, but....
If our Secret Service, FBI, and CIA were or are this incompetent and clueless, we’re in a real world of hurt.
If our Secret Service, FBI, and CIA were or are this incompetent and clueless, we’re in a real world of hurt.
February 28, 2023
One of the best books I've read this year. I loved how the author dealt with depression and mental hysteria, while keeping the reader on edge, wondering how Laura could possibly succeed in this task.
August 25, 2023
One of the better books that I have read.
March 4, 2025
Noel Hynd never disappoints, I have read most of his books ..they are entertaining and realistic.
May 28, 2022
got better as it evolved
Fantastic but oddly believable. Laura made a wonderful flawed brave protagonist. Plenty of gritty action and just enough romance. A-
Fantastic but oddly believable. Laura made a wonderful flawed brave protagonist. Plenty of gritty action and just enough romance. A-
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews