Local author’s intriguing political thriller travels the globe

By Lynne Cope Hummell

The teaser on the back cover of “Fatally Flawed: Anatomy of An American President,” a new suspense novel by retired physician Robert Lisle of Beaufort, is enough to draw in readers of all sorts: “Something is wrong with the president of the United States. And nobody knows about it.”

But if that wasn’t enough to lure in the most hesitant of readers, the reviews noted in the front of the book were. “A literary thriller that delivers a knockout of an ending,” wrote Jonathan Haupt, executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort. Even for someone who is not typically drawn to political fiction, or mysteries, or international intrigue, “Fatally Flawed” proved to reach page-turner status for this reviewer.

In his first novel, Lisle pulls out all the stops in placing his characters around the world – from Washington, DC to Paris to Beirut to Oxford – following the action from one locale to another and back again to tell

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an involved tale of ambition, espionage, unlikely lovers, clashing cultures and the crazy path to the highest office in the United States of America.

Lisle describes his story as “an international geo-political thriller, a convoluted love story, and a history lesson on the cultural origins of pre-911 terrorism.” He said it took five years just to get to the “publishing part,” as his original manuscript required much writing and rewriting, chopping out numer- ous vignettes and characters that didn’t move the story along, he said.

Asked how a retired physician came to write a political thriller, Lisle said, “I guess the simple answer is if one is inclined to write, one writes about what one knows something about. Thus, ‘Fatally Flawed’ is a composite of medicine and human nature drawn from 50 years of medical practice, photography and its history, and some mysterious Middle Eastern travel.”

The story unwinds over 57 chapters. Not to worry, though, as many of the chapters are a mere four or five pages each. But oh, the stories that are told!

Perhaps because of the stringent editing, some readers might find minor lapses in continuity or timing. But those details don’t throw the reader off track, as the plot twists are sure to keep one engaged.

Anyone looking for a summer read that’s anything but fluffy will want to read this one.

“Fatally Flawed” is available at Barnes & Nobel, Amazon and other outlets.