Review - The Race

The latest book to be read was The Race by Richard North Patterson. I guess that I didn't get enough politics over the last 2 years, so I indulged in what I thought would be an interesting political thriller.

The first half of the book reminded me of a Spencer Tracy / Katherine Hepburn film where the characters go back and forth at each other, not really developing a story, but just the relationship. I almost put the book down at that point but I trudged on hoping it would get better. It was more than halfway through before the politics really got interesting.

The plot of the book (weak as it is) is that Corey Grace is running for the Republican nomination as President of the United States. He has two main rivals, Rob Martolla, a fellow senator, and Bob Christy, a ultra-conservative Christian minister. Along with those three characters there are so many more that I literally had to write them down to keep track of everyone. I ended up with a list of 18, leaving most of the minor characters off.

The similarities between Grace and John McCain are striking, even though Patterson says the similarities end with the military background. Yeah, right. Grace is the only character that has honesty and integrity while the others will pretty much do or say anything to get elected.

I am not recommending this book since it starts off slow and is way too sterotypical. But hey, it's done and now I can start on Mr. Monk is Miserable!