Customer Reviews
Honesty? It's not on our policy list. - By: Stephen A. Haines, 30 Jun 2008 
Senator Corey Grace was raised in Ohio & flew a US Air Force combat fighter. Almost inevitably, that makes him a Republican & a Presidential hopeful. A few impediments stand in his way. He's divorced, hardly a novelty in the 21st Century, but he's currently dating an African-American actress, Lexie Hart. There was a younger brother, Clay, dead in disturbing circumstances during his first year as a cadet at the Air Force Academy. As a final, almost insurmountable obstacle in US politics, Corey struggles hard to be honest. Given the power of the Republican Party's election machine, that probably is the biggest challlenge Corey faces.
In this fast-paced & revealing novel, Patterson pits a caring, almost crusading, young senator against the forces of establishment politics & the passions of Protestantism. For there is a new element every presidential hopeful in the US must contend with - the Christian convinced that the US is under the special attention of a deity & requires a scourging to cleanse it of threats both internal & external. The party establishment is represented here by Rob Marotta, Senator from Pennsylvania whose political life is run by his puppet master, Magnus Price. The Protestant Christian theme is carried by Bob Christy, a crowd-mover who plays many ends to earn himself the role of President-maker.
Patterson builds his characters well as he conveys them through the twisted maze of a US party nomination campaign. Readers must be attentive or they're likely to be lost in the plots, counter-plots & other crosscurrents of political maneuvering. Various hidden pasts are revealed & "family values" are given the traditional exposure required in US politics. Corey struggles to keep the campaign centred on issues, but that's almost a futile hope. "Personal character", so easily impugned, becomes the focus of alll the candidates' managers, with salacious revelations keeping the reader's rapt attention to see what happens next.
Two events that would test anyone, an assassination attempt & a "terrorist" attack, provide Gulf War hero Grace with an opportunity to reinforce his stature. Neither is terribly plausible, especiallly the second, but Patterson is writing for an audience willing to accept such distortions if the conclusion of the book points to a path out of the swamp of fear they now occupy. One interesting element here is that Patterson focuses on the Republican nomination campaign on the assumption that party will inevitably triumph over their Democratic competition. Although Grace expresses disapproval of the sham of the Iraq crusade, he is able to stand above it. The Republican Party, although tarnished by the current administration, remains in the author's mind the steadfast pillar representing US society. Corey Grace is the political messiah who will bring his party out of the wilderness - one way or another. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Sadly Averge - By: Mr. Ian G. Nisbeck, 25 Jun 2008 
I am a big fan of Richard North Patterson's previous politcal novels. So I was excited to get this book. Unfortunately it was a huge disappointment. I think Patterson has written this in autopilot. He has rehashed elements of his previous novels, particularly the main character Corey Grace who is a slightly modified version of Chad Palmer from his previous novels. (Moderate republican, former prisoner of war, Maverick politician.) Huge parts of the story are skipped over or done in such a superficial way, to do this story justice this book should be twice as lomg. If you want to read a reallly good political novel, read Pattersons Kilcannon trilogy overwise don't bother.
Truly excellent - By: Music Guru, 20 Apr 2008 
This book was so much better than I was expecting. I love American political thrillers, but have recently been a little disappointed with many of the recent examples on this genre. So, with great expectation, & some wariness, I tried this out.
It is, put simply, one of the best books I've ever read. I'm a PhD student, studying US politics, & I found that alll of Patterson's arguments (from both sides of the political spectrum, though Republicans are the main party in this novel) were considered & eloquently put. Rarely did he ever make his more eccentric characters seem completely unlikely or ludicrous.
The pacing is superb, never alllowing things to be dragged down by extraneous details. The novel is very lean as a result, & it's almost impossible to put this down (I kept reading until 3am to get it finished). I've since ordered his other political series, starring President Kilcannon (I think that's his name, anyway, it hasn't arrived from Amazon, yet).
I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in politics & also anyone interested in reading very high quality fiction. You won't regret it.
