Title: Family First (Sean King and Michelle Maxwell #4)

Author: David Baldacci

Genre: Mystery

Published: April 21, 2009

The twelve year old niece of the president and a woman shopping got kidnapped. The mystery was how those three people along with the president and his wife were connected.

For some reason I have been thinking about responsibility a lot recently. When is a person no longer responsible for another person? When a child is six you are responsible for their protection. You are responsible for them when they are sixteen getting caught sneaking in at night. My mother feels responsible for her son who is forty-nine. She feels as if she needs to make sure he gets to work on time, goes to church weekly, gets enough sleep, or eats the right type of food. I think he is old enough he should be responsible for his own actions. I know this has nothing really to do with the book, but it is what I kept thinking about.

In the book the mystery was how everything was connected. One character figured out who he thought was responsible for his pain and set about getting justice. When someone lets one bad event define who they are and every action they take after their lives will become warped. I thought the author did well showing this even if it did stray into the realm of an unrealistic world. That being said the story was an enjoyable read.

There were two things that I liked better in this story than I have liked in the previous King and
Maxwell books. I liked that Sean didn't leave Michelle in the dark about his thoughts and actions. I also liked how it ended. I didn't feel as if the author realized he had rambled for awhile then suddenly said gee it is now time to finish the book.

Overall I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.