The stories about Henry and Sandra tend to be love stories first, thrillers second, and mysteries third, but They All Ran After the President's Wife is first a thriller and then a mystery, with the love story providing the background and motivations for the thriller. In general, the sto6535 ries about Henry and Sandra dazzle with their depictions of powerful people caught up in melodramatic situations, with Henry and Sandra standing out from the other characters as the handsomest, most beautiful, most loving, and most intelligent figures.

In the context of Clark's other fiction, They All Ran After the President's Wife resembles her damsel-in-distress plots as found in her early best seller Where Are the Children? (1975; see separate entry), continued in Weep No More; My Lady (1987), and recently exemplified by Let Me Call You Sweetheart (1995; see separate entry) and Moonlight Becomes You (1996). In these tales, a...