Last Snow

Written by Eric Van Lustbader

Narrated by Richard Ferrone

The electrifying follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Jack McClure thriller First Daughter

Jack McClure, Special Advisor and closest friend to the new President of the United States, interprets the world very differently from the rest of us. It's his greatest liability, and his greatest asset.

An American senator, supposedly on a political trip to the Ukraine, turns up dead on the island of Capri. When the President asks him to find out how and why, Jack sets out from Moscow across Eastern Europe, following a perilous trail of diplomats, criminals, and corrupt politicians. Thrust into the midst of a global jigsaw puzzle, Jack's unique dyslexic mind allows him to put together the pieces that others can't even see.

Still unreconciled to the recent death of his daughter and the dissolution of his marriage, Jack takes on a personal mission along with his official one: keeping safe from harm his two unlikely, unexpected, and incompatible companions—Annika Dementieva, a rogue Russian FSB agent, and Alli Carson, the President's daughter. As he struggles to keep both young women safe and unearth the answers he seeks, hunted by everyone from the Russian mafia to the Ukrainian police to his own NSA, Jack learns just how far up the American and Russian political ladders corruption and treachery has reached.

In the vein of Eric Van Lustbader's latest bestselling Jason Bourne novels, Lustbader takes us on an international adventure in this powerful page-turner that will keep you reading through the night.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Feb 16, 2010
• ISBN: 9781427208798

Eric Van Lustbader

Eric Van Lustbader is the author of twenty-five international bestsellers, as well as twelve Jason Bourne novels, including The Bourne Enigma and The Bourne Initiative. His books have been translated into over twenty languages. He lives with his wife in New York City and Long Island.

Reviews for Last Snow

[delta61 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Too many Russian names. I had a hard time finishing the book. It just seemed to go on and on. At least there was an explosive ending.

[clara53_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It rather escapes me how a book - though, doubtless, a page-turner with a lot of action and language not even too dry for a political thriller - failed to impress me. The action takes place first in Moscow, then mostly all of it in Ukraine, as American president and his advisers are battling all kinds of Russian factions and adversaries. The protagonist, Jack McClure, the President's most talented adviser and friend is in the middle of the action, along with the President's daughter, whom, as I understand, in a previous book he saved from a kidnapper - this story line also continues.What I found a little demeaning (though it's just a detail) was the author's choice to invent or make up Russian names for his characters - at least 75 percent of them are combination of letters pretending to sound like Russian names and surnames. I don't believe for a second that he didn't have a native speaker to help him with names, but this sort of thing came through as a mockery.I know that Mr. Lustbader continued to write the Jason Bourne series created by the late author Robert Ludlum, so he must have an appeal. This book might make a good movie, but as a book I found it a bit shallow.

[dketelsen_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It took me a little while to get used to van Lustbader's writing style--I've not read one of his books in quite a while--but after the first couple of chapters I settled in for the ride. And it was quite a ride.There's so much action in this book it can really rock you back on your heels--which is a good thing. One thing though, you have to really pay attention when reading this book. There's wheels turning inside of wheels in the plot and nobody is exactly as they seem.A very good book but one you have to pay attention to else you'll be hopelessly lost by the end.

[lisalynne_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

 Last Snow, Eric Van Lustbader’s new political thriller, picks up right where First Daughter left off. Edward Carson is now the President. First daughter, Alli, is recovering from her kidnapping ordeal, and Jack McClure is still talking to his dead daughter. The President is in Russia, negotiating an arms deal, when an important administration ally turns up dead. President Carson is counting on Jack to untangle a web of lies and keep Alli safe — which would be easier if he had some idea who was after them.Jack McClure is an interesting character. In First Daughter, we learned that he managed to make a name for himself in the intelligence community in spite of — or perhaps because of — his dyslexia. In this environment, his mind works in a completely original way: every walk through a building creates a three-dimensional map in his head, he seems able to assemble tiny fragments of information into a coherent picture at blinding speeds. I’m not sure that dyslexia has this effect on everyone, but it works for Jack.The plot is a Gordian knot. Everyone is lying, there is no clear view of the big picture, and everything is handled in secrecy. That’s to be expected, since Jack has hauled the President’s daughter on a cross-country dash to stay one step ahead of hired assassins — and those assassins might not all be Russian. There’s a chance there is a traitor close to the President and he may have Jack and Alli in his sights.I love a good political thriller. I had fun trying to scout the angles in this one, trying to sort out the post-Cold-War political influences that motivated the players. Throw in the possibility of a traitor amongst the President’s advisors, and you’ve got plenty of intrigue to work with. You could almost see the clock ticking down, feel the tension, right up to the signing of the accord, with agents working frantically in the background. I really enjoyed the big build-upRead my full review here.

[jasmyn9 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Special advisor to the President, Jack McClure, finds himself in Moscow with the president and his family working on an important treaty when word comes that a senator has died in Capri. Strange thing is, this senator was supposed to be in the Ukraine. Sensing something is wrong, the president sends Jack McClure off to investigate. Before he can leave, a strange run in with a Russian woman named Annika stirs the pot and gives him a partner. Throw in the first daughter, Alli, deciding to tag along as well, and you have quite a mixed up group.Jack just didn't seem to do much for me. Perhaps it was the magical way his dyslexia gave him special thinking powers (not sure if that's possible or not, but it seemed an easy way out). Or perhaps how he always just seemed to get lucky. He really didn't seem to be making any headway on his own. It was all the work of Annika and Alli until the final mystery which he pulls a solution out of thin air.Annika is hard to describe. I didnt seem to get to know her very well at all. And what I did get to know about her always seemed to be changing.Alli was by far my favorite character. SHe was stronger than she thought she was. After being through a traumtic kidnapping (the first book) she has a lot of emotional baggage that she is working through throughout the entire story. I couldn't help but admire her tenacity as she tried to find herself again.The story itself was decent, but there was so much going on behind the scenes that without many strokes of luck our characters would have been dead several times over. I'm still trying to figure out how the ending really was the best solution to anything. I'm all for the surprise twist to keep the reader guessing, but there were a few too many this time.3/5

[nbmars · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book is the second thriller [sic] involving Jack McClure, the strong yet sensitive Special Advisor and factotum to the U.S. President, Edward Carson.In the previous “episode,” First Daughter, Jack had rescued the President’s daughter Alli from the clutches of an evil serial killer who had kidnapped her and held her hostage for a week. In this book, Jack is once again asked to help with Alli, who has still not recovered psychologically from her ordeal. Jack, it seems, is the only one who can get through to Alli. Jack is also the father of Alli’s former best friend Emma, who died in a car crash at age 20 the year before, but hangs around in The Ether to help her dad when he’s in danger.Last Snow avoids some of the narrative excesses of First Daughter, but not completely. The prose can be beyond bizarre. This, for example, is a description of a man admiring a girl even though he knows she is too young:"This does not stop him from staring at the intimate dewlike sheen that licks the shadowed dell from which floats toward him the unmistakable aroma of freshly peeled lemons.”Wha?!!!This same man thinks that whatever pleasure he is getting from whatever the heck he thought before, doesn’t help:"He is still living in the moment that occurred three hours ago but that continues like a whipping, devastating in its excoriation.”Wha?!!!Actually, that should be your question, as in: “And you continued to read this, why?” Well, you see, the local library was closed, and I was feeling alienated from my TBR pile, and there you have it…Anyway, back to Jack McClure. He is with the President in Russia, and in his hotel room he can hear a couple arguing in the room below:"‘I hate you!’ the woman said, her raw emotion vibrating through the pipe. ‘I’ve always hated you.’‘You told me you loved me,’ the man said, not plaintively, which might be expected, but with the guttural growl of a stalking male.‘Even then I hated you, I always hated you.’”Great dialogue, that…Meanwhile, speaking of great dialogue, while listening to the quarrel, Jack is also listening to his wife berate him on the phone:"If you cared about me, if you cared about repairing the damage to our marriage, you would have found a job closer to home.”Um, the Special Assistant to the President of the United States should have “found a job closer to home?” Sounds realistic to me…Wait, I’m digressing again. Back to the USSR, or more accurately, Russia. Jack somehow gets involved with the Russian mafia, who are somehow involved with the Russian secret service, who are somehow involved with American contract killers, who are somehow involved with the previous administration, who are somehow involved with the President of Russia, who, etc., etc. The plot is very convoluted, but not in a good way. We are not talking about expert twists, but rather, an increase of muddling.Jack gets it all, however. In spite of being amazingly naïve for someone in his position, he happens to have a form of dyslexia that endows him with Special Powers (e.g., seeing patterns that others do not, seeing dead people that others do not, and learning Russian, Arabic, and Farsi all within the same eight-month period). It’s a good thing he has this magic thing going, because you could sell this guy real estate on the moon. In fact, because of his naivety, he must eventually make use of Alli’s revelation that she too has a Special Power. Hers is to be able to detect lies. Jack finally decides (wisely) to avail himself of her Special Power in order to help him evaluate a situation before he uses his Special Powers.In the end, the plot lines don’t all get completely tied up, but you don’t even care, because you’re just glad to be out of the book, already!!!Evaluation: Even besides the bad prose and worse plot, if you are at all sensitive to stereotyping (such as, all Russian men are pockmarked sleazebags, and all Russian women are hot blonde babes ripe for the picking), you won’t necessarily want to pick up this book. Even if your library is closed. Try a movie, perhaps?

[novelbookworm_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In this second in the “Jack McClure” series, author Eric Van Lustbader takes us on a Ludlem-esque journey from the island of Capri to Moscow to the Ukraine. Political intrigue, deals and double-crosses, diplomats, organized crime figures, rotten politicians and secret agents a-plenty. The Last Snow has a complicated plot line, all centering upon a treaty being signed by Russia and the United States. Once again, Jack McClure’s dyslexia allows his brain to perceive of situations in new and unique ways, allowing him to understand the pieces of the puzzle better than anyone else. Along the way, a lovely rogue Russian FSB officer named Annika as well as the President’s daughter, Allie Carson, accompanies Jack as he attempts to uncover the hidden machinations of all the players. I really liked Lustbader’s First Daughter, and I was very excited to read the sequel. I think I just wasn’t in the mood for a political intrigue and Bourne Identity type thriller though. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get into this story. The frequent mention of Jack being dyslexic and how it enables his brain to process information differently became annoying to me. I get it already. He’s dyslexic. He thinks differently. It’s an advantage in his line of work. Okay? Now move on. It’s like none of the main characters have ever met a dyslexic person. Good grief, something like 15% of the population is dyslexic. I’m pretty sure we all know at least a few people with this condition. I’d like to think that at least a portion of the remaining 85% of non-dyslexic people could still think abstractly. The feeling like an Outsider, as it is put in the novel is also a recurring theme. This too started to feel contrived. Really, who hasn’t felt like an Outsider? (Hey, the author capitalizes it, so I thought I should too.) As with the dyslexia, I started to get a bit irritated by the musing’s of the protagonist about being an Outsider. The novel features a lot of Russian characters, and for some reason my brain just had problems processing all the names. I found myself frequently flipping back in the book to refresh my memory when a character was mentioned. That isn’t a fault with the book though, more of a personal failing of this reader. The plot has the prerequisite twists and turns, and as you would expect, not everyone is who they seem. There was an interesting twist at the end, but by the time I arrived there, I was just glad to be done with the book. All that said though, I think I’d recommend the book for fans of this genre. As international thrillers go, this book has everything and I think “Tom Clancy-Robert Ludlum” readers will really enjoy this novel. I love a good spy novel too, but I have to be in the right frame of mind for it. Unfortunately, I think I’m still in the Zombie Zone from Patient Zero.Review copy provided by Tor-Forge books.

[joemmama · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Eric Van Lustbader has written a bang up tale of espionage in "Last Snow". This is the second book in the Jack McClure series, and it sent me running to the library for "First Daughter". It is great as a stand alone, but I enjoyed it so much, I wanted more!American Senator, Lloyd Berns is killed by a hit and run driver on the Isle of Capri. Problem is he is supposed to be in the Ukraine. Jack McClure is a strategic advisor to the newly elected, President of the United States, Edward Carson. Jack is dyslexic, but he sees things very clearly. The man has skills. Jack saved President Carson's daughter, Alli, from a kidnapper, and has the ear of the President and First Lady. Unfortunately, they don't seem to get the fact that he has a job to do, and they send their daughter with him, on his getaway plane.The President is in Moscow to sign an accord to put a stop to sales of nuclear goods to our enemies in the Middle East. It is a tricky deal, with crazy generals, criminals, and corrupt politicians. Throw a rogue Russian FSB agent, Annika (beautiful, of course), and Alli into the mix, and the bullets and sparks start flying.Though it was a little predictable, I found myself staying up most of the night to finish. The ending is huge, and leaves you wondering what will happen next!I won this book from Goodreads.

[readafew · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Last Snow is an international espionage thriller. This is the second outing of our dyslexic protagonist Jack McClure. Reading the First Daughter isn't necessary, but if you plan on reading it, it's best to read it first , as Last Snow has many flashbacks to this novel and gives away much of the plot. Jack is a personal adviser to the President of the United States and he has accompanied the president on his trip to Russia to try and broker an accord. Unfortunately, a US Senator who was doing a fact finding tour in the Ukraine disappeared, and reappeared in Italy, dead. Since the Senator was one of President Carson's leading supporters in Congress, he was worried about what really happened and why the Senator was in Italy instead of the Ukraine. So he sends the only man he trusts, Jack, to investigate. Before Jack can even get on the plane he picks up a couple stragglers, Annika, a Russian FSB agent who got herself into deep trouble and Allie, the presidents daughter who has emotional problems and only feels safe in Jack's company. They all fly into the Ukraine and into a hornets nest of international intrigue and danger where it seems everyone is trying to kill them.Not a bad book, the pacing was pretty good and I liked the main character. I enjoyed most of the writing but it seemed weird that all the main characters were both deeply scarred by past events and philosophical savants who all share the same insights into the world. When the main villain has the same thoughts as our hero, even to using the same phrase, makes me think that the author is preaching a message and I found it to be the most irritating part of the whole book. For some reason the author also felt the need to point out that Jack was dyslexic in every other chapter. The good news is that the mystery and double dealing kept the book interesting and worth the time it took to read. I liked the story and enjoyed trying to figure out 'what was going on'. The few small plot holes weren't noticeable until after the book was done and I started thinking back on it, unlike Dan Brown, so that is a point in its favor as well.Overall he does a great bit of setting, and mystery writing which keeps the pages turning, however, he is only semi-successful in portraying a 'broken' character and he has one prototype he uses repeatedly. While I wouldn't stand on the street corner trying to get people to read the book, it was a decent read and if you like James Patterson or David Baldacci he is worth adding to the list.

[bookmagic_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In his latest thriller, Lustbader brings back Jack McClure, who was introduced to readers in the New York Times bestseller FIRST DAUGHTER. A street-smart former ATF agent, McClure is now serving as a special advisor to President Edward Carson.An American senator, supposedly on a political trip to the Ukraine, turns up dead on the island of Capri. When the President asks him to find out how and why, Jack sets out from Moscow across Eastern Europe, following a perilous trail of diplomats, criminals, and corrupt politicians. Thrust into the midst of a global jigsaw puzzle, Jack's unique dyslexic mind allows him to put together the pieces that others can't even see.Still unreconciled to the recent death of his daughter and the dissolution of his marriage, Jack takes on a personal mission along with his official one: keeping safe from harm his two unlikely, unexpected, and incompatible companions, Annika, a rogue Russian FSB agent, and Alli, the President's daughter. As he struggles to keep both women safe and unearth the answers he seeks, hunted by everyone from the Russian mafia to the Ukrainian police to his own NSA, Jack learns just how far up the American and Russian political ladders corruption and treachery has reached. And though Jack's abilities are as good as its gets, there is much more to gain—and lose—on this journey than the truth about the Senator. my review: It has been awhile since I read a good political thriller. I actually had thought that I read the author's previous book, First Daughter, but it was actually a different book with a similar title. After reading Last Snow, I would like to read the other. I did not feel lost having not read the first book, as the author gives plenty of details.I liked Jack McClure, a flawed man with baggage, but smart and very likable. The book took place in some great settings; it was action packed and filled with a lot of twists and turns. I also thought the author did a really good job with character development, something that can be missing in a fast-paced thriller. It was an interesting twist that Jack is dyslexic, however I did not think that needed to be brought up so often. And I found the idea of this trusted presidential adviser on a dangerous mission with the President's twenty-two year old daughter along for the ride implausible. Thankfully, it is not a sexual relationship. But for the most part, it was really good and well-worth the read. I love intrigue that still includes the Russians! my rating: 3/5

[ronrose1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a follow up to the author's book, First Daughter, which had ATF agent Jack McClure saving the President's daughter from a homicidal kidnapper. Much of the Last Snow draws from the previous book, with Jack now protecting the President and his family, especially his daughter, who has been traumatically effected from her previous abduction. The book is set in Russia, where the President is trying to push through a defense treaty. Needless to say, nothing is what it appears to be on the surface, neither the reasons on both sides for the treaty nor the numerous spies and counterspies working on their own or their government's objectives. Deceive, deny and obfuscate seems to be the rule. The author is good at twisting the reader back and forth through the convoluted plot. There seemed to be so many twisted characters that I wasn't entirely taken by any of them, including Jack. On the whole, while it has all the trappings, with the twisty plot, a large cast of characters driven by their psychological short comings and plenty of action, this seems to me an average thriller.

[literarilyspeaking1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Last Snow is what a thriller should be: Tense, engaging and with enough solid characterization to make you care what happens to the people about whom you're reading. I really had to think through this whole book thanks to all the twists and turns and new revelations coming around every corner.The main character, Jack McClure, is a close confidant of newly seated president Carson. He's also dyslexic, which apparently gives him a unique ability to piece together some pretty far-flung clues to come up with an answer. I'm not sure how much I believed this particular portion of the story, but I was easily able to suspend my disbelief and just pretend that Jack was really, really good at what he did.I liked Jack a lot. He had just the right balance of tough-guy exterior and soft-heartedness to strike me as being a real person. Characterization, to me, is one of the main faults of thrillers, which tend to be so plot-heavy that the authors don't take enough time fleshing out their characters to satisfy my liking. Not with this book. I was able to get a real sense for not only Jack and the other main characters, but also some of the more minor characters.Van Lustbader's prose is really easy to read. I wouldn't say that it's necessarily poetic or anything, but it is far above what I've experienced with many other thrillers (The short, choppy sentences that oftentimes aren't even complete sentences -- I hate that!) and it moves you along nicely. Here's an example: He simply did not know any other way to live, if this was living at all, which he'd begun to seriously doubt. And therein lay the rub, as the good Bard wrote, he thought, because the only thing to fear was doubt. He knew from his mentors that the moment you allowed doubt to creep into your thinking -- doubt about your ability, about the people around you, about the dark and gravelike profession you were in -- you were as good as dead.The plot was also very interesting. What started out as one mission for Jack turned into something else entirely, and every step of the way made sense in the end. There were times when I could barely read fast enough to find out what was going to happen next.And the ending. Wow. Talk about a punch in the gut that you don't see coming. You think the book's going to end one way, but then something else completely happens and you're left stunned. I'm still not totally sure if I'm pleased with the ending, but I will say it was not one of those neatly-tied-up-with-a-bow kind of endings where all the bad guys are in jail and the good guys will fight crime another day.Another little thing I liked, just because I'm a nerd like that, was that each of the three parts of the book opened with a literary quote -- two Shakespeare and one Edmund Spenser -- and there were literary references sprinkled throughout the novel. Every time I'd see a work I know referenced, I would smile a little bit, but that's just me.If there's one criticism that I had about this book, although it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book at all, is that every single character seemed to have some kind of tragic or checkered past. Everyone had experienced some kind of unspeakable event or heartbreak, or had a family member with a major illness or disability. While I understand this is what helps a lot of readers relate to the characters, I just couldn't help but wonder if there were any people in Jack McClure's world who hadn't experienced anything catastrophic.Overall, this was a really enjoyable read that put a little bit of my faith back in thrillers. Of course, I'm not going to run off and read anymore James Patterson anytime soon, but it was refreshing.