Kerry Kilcannon

3 primary works

No Safe Place

by Richard North Patterson

Published 12 December 1991

No Safe Place centres on seven days in a closly contested Presidential primary, in which political violence, abortion politics and potential scandal all converge. Kerry Kilcannon is a young senator from New Jersey, the younger brother of a murdered presidential aspirant. Now Kerry, too, is seeking the presidency. But Kerry's past and present have begun to converge. Unknown to him, he is being stalked by Sean Burke, an anti-abortion fanatic intent on killing him before election day. And Nate Cutler, a political reporter for a national newsmagazine is trying to establish that two years before - while still married - Kilcannon had an affair with Lara Costello, another reporter covering Kilcannonm which resulted in an abortion. Through a narrative which weaves past and present, No Safe Place introduces the compelling character, Kerry Kilcannon, and raises questions about abortion politics, the gun culture in America, and the degree to which the press is - or should be - intent on exposing the private lives of political leaders. On the eve of the election, those forces converge in a sensational and shocking climax.

Protect And Defend

by Richard North Patterson

Published 1 January 1999

The young woman is Mary Ann Tierney. She is 15 years old. Within days her name will be known to millions acrosss America, her court case a television must-watch for everyone from the President downwards. s Mary Ann takes on her own parents and the constitional law of the United States in a desperate bid to protect her future right to bear children, the ramifications of the 'Tierney' case bring a threat to the new President, Kerry Kilcannon, to his nominee for Chief Justice, Caroline Masters, and to his main rival for the Presidency, Senator Chad Palmer. All have dangerous secrets in their past, secrets that would not only threaten careers, but bring death and tragedy to innocent lives. A tense, moving account of the tangled moral issues at the heart of the most difficult decision a woman has to take. It plays out the terrible consequences when the media takes people's private lives and turns them into public entertainment.

Balance of Power

by Richard North Patterson

Published 1 January 2003

Five months into his term, President Kilcannon and his fiancee, television journalist Lara Costello, have decided to marry. But the occasion is followed by a terrible tragedy: a massacre of innocents in a lethal burst of gunfire. It is a shattering event that consumes Kilcannon and his wife, challenging both their marriage, and his Presidency in such a personal way that Kilcannon vows to eradicate gun violence throughout the US.

In a high-stakes game of politics and legal manoeuvring where ideals collide in the Senate, the courtroom and across the country, President Kilcannon is determined to win at any cost. But in the clash over gun rights and violence, the cost to both Kilcannons may be even higher than the President imagined.