This book never snagged my attention, though I gave it two chances to do so. The first time, I didn't get past the first chapter. The second time, I tried the audio version and didn't make it past 27 percent. Between the nudity, the sexual immorality overtones, and the bomber's pornography obsession, there wasn't much room for the terrorism and Manchurian Candidate-knockoff plot to retain my attention.

Content: nudity, graphic violence, on-page sex, alcohol, sexual immorality overtones, pornography

Interesting addition to the Newsmakers series. Some of it was a little cheesy, but overall the intrigue about a presidential election seems almost ripped from the current headlines. It's a very timely book for all that is going on in the world today and makes you think just about how much goes on behind the scenes that voters don't necessarily know...

The Republicans are salt of the earth. The Democrats are manipulative zombies. Not surprising that this was written by a Fox News commentator. Erica Sparks is the anchor of the highest rated news show on GNN, but her ratings are slipping so she focuses her attention on the upcoming presidential election. Her angle is that she thinks there is something off about Mike Ortiz, the Democratic Senator from California who is vying for the nomination. There is something even more off about Mike’s super rich wife and her very close friend Lily Lau, the daughter of a Chinese diplomat. As Erica investigates people start dying.

Erica is a paragon of perfection in her work, but she has a rocky relationship with her 11 year old daughter and apparently she has no idea how to vet an employee, because the weirdness of her assistant would have been obvious to any sane person. I thought the book spent too much time on the mother/daughter conflict. In their internal monologues, each of the women in this book sounded artificial and childish. These are not the voices of intelligent, educated adults. “Mmm even your blood tastes pretty...Pretty lady, pretty blood.”

I felt the plot really veered into an improbable and paranoid direction. Although I did manage to finish the book, I wouldn’t read this author again. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Lis Wiehl is a great storyteller and I really enjoy her writing. She is also great at portraying characters. Her portrayal of Celeste is really chilling!

However, my attention span with anything to do with politics is extremely short so I was unable to finish this book. I do hope I will a chance to read another of her novels that has nothing to do with politics.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for the review copy. Sorry this was so late in coming, but this is my honest review..

Sloppy writing and plot-planning - at best.
As someone who loves the previous works of Ms Wiehl, I can not help but feel disappointed by this one. Maybe this is because the book has been co-authored, but there is a certain laziness present and the plot goes ad absurdum. Erica herself needs much growing to do (her character's arc is flat and her always putting her career first comes off as quite selfish).
And I am very surprised that this novel has been published by Thomas Nelson, a Christian publishing house. TN likes to go edgy (which I love because I do not like the tight boxes), but there is too much sensuality present to be OK even for this European reader, when expecting a novel with the Christian undertones.

sadly this was not what i expected it to be.
I expected a thriller.
Instead i got a book that is mostly based around investigative reporting, strange and i felt never really explained mind controlling and a lot of unexplained conspiracy that made no sense to me.
So sadly this book was not for me.

What made me decide to request this series was the blurb that made it sound very Olivia Pope-esque, and who can say no to some solid fixing?

That said, I felt like you HAVE to read the first one to enjoy this one, because there are a lot of references back. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not my favorite, especially when I get something as an ARC. I didn't love the villain in this story, and felt like this was so fast paced that it would've made a better movie than book. Not horrible, not my favorite, just somewhere in between.

Thomas Nelson and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Candidate. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

A successful candidate for President requires a great staff and a supportive family. What happens when the power in the relationship shifts and the one holding all of the cards is the one you least expect?

Celeste Pierce Ortiz will do whatever it takes to secure her husband the top political spot in the country. Along with her friend and confidant Lily Lau, will the pair succeed? When journalist Erica Sparks starts to become suspicious, will her investigative skills put her in danger?

The Candidate was too far-fetched and unbelievable to be a good story. Between the secretive manipulations, perpetrated by Celeste and Lily, and Erica's personal drama, the central story never gains a foothold. Near the ending, Erica's situation and her solution just did not ring true. The events that transpire never could have happened in the way that they did. With dialogue and circumstances that seemed forced, The Candidate is not a book that I would recommend to other readers.

Oh what to say. I do wanted to like this one but the characters were just so stereotypical and cynical.

The second in a series and although the mysteries are self contained in each book there is character development from book to book, so you want to start at book one. I won't spoil anything in my review, so you can read on if you would like.

Erica Sparks remains the main character in this book and everything I said about her yesterday is still true in this book. I love her attitude, I love her spunk and I love what she gets into in this book.

The cover may be misleading as I can't remember a scene that takes place in DC, but the title is correct, there is something off with a presidential candidate and Erica feels like she needs to get to the bottom of it before he gets elected to the highest office.

Just as the book yesterday hit a current nerve, this one may be even more closer to home. Senator Mike Ortiz may have some past with a certain country that could affect his service if he were to become the president. I couldn't put this book down and at times felt a little eerie by how close this could be to reality.

If you are not tired from all the political crazy that is online, start with the first book and quickly follow up with this one! Tomorrow is the review of what I think is the final in this trilogy and I will make a report on the trilogy as a whole.

Thanks for letting me review it! Never read this author before.

Spooky story, and a bit too close to home (I read it right before the US election). Really a page turner, although I found the ending a little too tidy and pat.

A good political thriller that had a catchy plot line to start the book. The political intrigue of the 2 presidential candidates and their campaigns are interesting and have a hint of American style politics. Erica's job as a news/investigative reporter is to cover this campaign and she begins to uncover more than just an election. But overall, the reveal of the the candidate Ortiz' background and eventual mind control conspiracy just was a tad too unbelievable or far fetched to make it a 5 star book. But overall a good read if you like political thrillers.

“The Candidate” eBook was published in 2016 and was written by Lisa Wiehl (http://liswiehlbooks.com). Ms. Wiehl has published 14 novels. This is the second in her “Newsmakers” series.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set across the contemporary US. The primary character is journalist Erica Sparks, a top-rated cable news host.

Time is approaching for the parties to choose their presidential candidates. Sparks is on location where two potential candidates are to have a debate before their party’s convention. A bomber strikes and a candidate, along with many others, are killed. The remaining candidate, Mike Ortiz, is now guaranteed his party’s nomination.

Sparks begins to have questions about Ortiz. On the surface he is a strong candidate, but the more she digs into his background the more questions she has. As she seeks assistance from others to investigate Ortiz, many die under questionable circumstances.

Can Sparks confirm her fears before the election and will she be able to bring the truth to the American people?

I enjoyed the 6+ hours I spent reading this 348 page Mystery Thriller. I liked the character of Sparks and those regulars around her. I thought that the plot concept of a presidential candidate who is possibly under someone’s control was interesting. There were twists and turns in the plot keeping me very involved with the story. While I think that the ending could have been stronger, I liked the novel. The cover art is OK, implying Washington intrigue. I give this novel a 4.2 (rounded down to a 4) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

First book of Ms. Wiehl's, although I've meant to pick one up for sometime. Now, I will! The Candidate was well written and could have been taken from any headlines in today's news stories. The deception, plots and political intrigue were presented in an easy-to-read, suspenseful format. Couldn't be more timely! Keep writing, Lis!

Thank you to Ms. Wiehl's publisher, Thomas Nelson, and Netgalley.com for allowing me to be entertained by The Candidate.

I would place this book in the detective novel section under politics, violence and murder. I had a tough time reading the constant abusiveness and unwarranted violence. Not recommended for under 18.

I am a huge fan of all of Lis' books and "The Candidate" is not in any way a disappointment!  This is an intense read and even more so given the fact that we are in the midst of a presidential election race.  Erica Sparks is a top-rated cable news host and she was in the midst of drama and also death in "The Newsmakers" and once again she senses something is off and she finds herself and her family in danger.  Erica is a fantastic main character as she is dealing with things from her past, and yet trying to move forward with her life and make herself a better person, which is something that so many of us are striving to do.  Erica is faced with challenges, although hopefully they are more extreme than what we face, but she is still a strong person with the strength and determination that is admirable.  I cannot wait to see what Lis writes next.  Read on in this post for more details about this book, learn about Lis and the previous book about Erica Sparks, and then run and get your own copy to read and enjoy!

Although the prose was klunky and the characters a bit cardboard, it had an interesting (and in these times relevant plot) that moved along well. The ending was obviously rushed, it ties things up too conveniently and too improbably. A better though out finish would have made for a much better read.

The Candidate is a book that has you rushing through the pages, feeling the excitement of news reporter Erica Sparks as she covers the story of Mike Ortiz, leading polls and running for President of the United States and his rich and powerful wife Celeste.. There is more than enough suspense, and drive to keep Erica hot on this story that eerily feels like conspiracy and shocking events that happen to derail her leads.There is a mysterious Chinese woman, Lily who is Celeste's very close friend, and is strangely suspicious in Erica's eyes. Erica's 11 year old daughter Jenny, just wants her mom to spend more time with her and is fearful for her, that something bad will happen but Erica is driven, and her job takes her away one too many times. Erica knows there is something not right with Mike Ortiz, he seems to literally be under his wife's thumb in an inappropriate way and completely devoted to her. Erica digs deep into his capture and imprisonment when Mike was in the military and terrorized by Al Queda, sensing there is a big story that has to be told to the American people who may elect him to become president. Erica meets many folks who might help her, but can they be trusted? And can she trust her own fiance who recently has betrayed her? This book is captivating, although a bit sensational and at times hard to fathom the reality of the very events that happen, it is a fast paced page turner and quite interesting specially given the political climate and media journalism world we live in and read about. Thanks to Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book to review in exchange for an honest review.

I've been given the opportunity to read and review Lis Wiehl & Sebastian Stuart second Erica Sparks novel: "The Candidate".
As a lover of political thrillers, I must say that this novel disappointed me, I will explain why soon after the summary of the plot.

Sparks is a rising star in GNN, a fictional CNN like network, after apparently exposing a shocking plot related to Nylan Hastings GNN's tycoon owner, in the first book (I have not read the first book of the series so excuse me if this is a poor account of the events).
In "The Candidate" the rising star covers the presidential campaign, with the elections only a few weeks away. With a catastrophe hitting the democratic summit, it looks like Sen. Ortiz - the movie star like war hero - is on his sure path to the presidency. But in Erica's book something’s amiss: is it Ortiz mechanic like conduct? His wife Celeste who seems to be holding a tight leash? or the Ortizes' all mysterious advisor and fried Lily Lau? While struggling with her own personal life: custody of her daughter and distance relationship with her fiancée, Sparks will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of the case!
In short (why I was disappointed): The characters are weak, I could not connect with anyone, especially not with Erica Sparks, not to mention the bond villain like Lily Lau. The plot is farfetched, and implausible. The writing is too fast paced for my liking and lacks needed imagery. On the bright side: it's a gripping tale, which would make a good Hollywood movie someday.
I was especially put off with the recurring references to the first novel, I deemed it unnecessary to establish Spark's current stardom, nor was I impressed with Sparks love-life: she “falls” for one of her daughter's friend's dad, then takes back her alleged cheating fiancée... uncharacteristicallyl.

I awarded the novel 2 star, which is somewhat lower than my usual ratings, and had it not been flowing and thrilling despite its problems - It would have gotten an even lower score. Lis Wiehel is a very talented writer, and I feel that the pressure of publishing a second Sparks book in due deadline took the better of her here.