Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Protect and Defend by Richard North Patterson ISBN: 0345404793 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 30 October, 2001 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.81
Rating: 3
Summary: Ham Fisted
Comment: I have deeply mixed emotions about reviewing this book. I also had an extremely difficult time finishing it. To be fair, Richard North Patterson is an excellent mystery writer--I discovered him 6-7 years ago and not only have read everything he has written since, but I went back and dug up paperback copies of all his early works. Some of his books are truly great, and all are above-average. All are recommended.
"Protect and Defend" reprises familiar names like Kerry Kilcannon and Caroline Masters, something Patterson does very well in his novels. But while many of his stories center around solving a murder, this one deals with an abortion case and takes place in court. It's arguably Patterson's best writing--this is an extremely well-written novel and is most involving.
Problem is, Patterson doesn't just hint at his side of the abortion issue--he bludgeons the reader with it. There's no mistaking whatsoever that the pro-choice crowd are the good guys, from President Kilcannon to Supreme Court Justice Masters on down...these are the folks who are doing the right thing day after day, fighting the good fight and setting examples for the way things ought to be. There's a group moderate of Republicans who are looked upon quite favorably, but the tried and true conservatives are absolutely villified--Patterson paints this group as the right-wing-wacko good old boys who are making the sleazy, back-room deals, getting rich and taking care of their own while being out of touch with what's really going on in the world.
The best fiction often offers an agenda of some kind, but in my estimation, truly brilliant writers are able to write powerful books which weave in said agenda with finesse and subtlety. Patterson has done that successfully in the past, but his pro-choice stance is trumpeted so ferociously that it overwhelms what was shaping up to be a terrific novel. I barely made it through the book because of my disgust with the approach, and I've been so flattened by Patterson's politics that I have serious doubts about reading anything else of his in the future.
Rating: 5
Summary: Captivating from beginning to end
Comment: Protect and Defend is a captivating book that investigates the inner workings of the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of government, combining fictional characters with real issues to create a thrilling twist on the battle between good and evil: the fight between Pro-Choicers and Pro-Lifers, Democrats and Republicans, and Females and Males. The events in the novel are on opposite sides of the country, in Washington D.C. and San Francisco. In Washington, immediately after the inauguration of Kerry Kilcannon, a democrat, the Chief Justice, a conservative, has a stroke and drops dead. The vice president is a female. With the death of Chief Justice Bannon, the president must start searching immediately for a replacement, only one day into his term, against a strikingly Republican senate led by MacDonald Gage a vicious man whose main desire and ambition is to become president. In San Francisco, Mary Ann Tierney, just fifteen years old, is seeking an abortion at five months pregnant. Without parental consent, she cannot abort the fetus, which is hydrocephalic and if delivered, could ruin her chances to have children in the future. Her parents are famous Pro-Lifers and her father is a law professor, well-known and respected for his consistent, anti-abortion views, so she gets a lawyer, young Sarah Dash to represent her in a case suing her parents for permission to get an abortion, challenging the Supreme Court in their recent rulings on late-term abortions. Also from San Francisco is Caroline Masters, a female liberal whom Kilcannon nominates. Patterson's novel examines many different perspectives on abortion an different political views taken by members of the government. Giving an in-depth look at both the Pro-Life and Pro-Choice movements, the book shows the effect of the issue on different lives and the struggles it causes families internally. It also demonstrates the ruthlessness of politicians and the extremes they will go to in order to get their ways. Patterson's extensive research on the subject shows and his realistic sketches of the characters are enthralling, keeping the reader's attention with every flip of perspective and countryside.
Rating: 4
Summary: An ambitious effort. Intense.
Comment: Richard North Patterson's newest is a follow-up to his excellent "No Safe Place" published several years ago. Kerry Kilcannon is now the recently elected Democratic President, and things begin to fall apart on his very first day in office. During Kilcannon's inaugural address to the nation, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court dies from a stroke while on the stage. Kilcannon's nominee for Chief Justice is a controversial female federal judge from California, Caroline Masters (also from his earlier novels).
In the midst of the intensely partisan confirmation process, a volatile late-term abortion case is moving its way up through the California courts and appears headed for the Supreme Court. Patterson gives us a look at the interesting inner workings of the federal courts and the Senate as they wrestle with difficult issues.
This book is a good read. I got a little tired of what seemed like overemphasis on the pros and cons of abortion, but I guess it was necessary in order to provide a balanced view. Nevertheless, this is one of those big, sprawling novels that you can really sink your teeth into. BUY IT.
 |
Title: Silent Witness by Richard North Patterson ISBN: 0345404769 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
 |
Title: No Safe Place by Richard North Patterson ISBN: 0345404777 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: July, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
 |
Title: Degree of Guilt by Richard North Patterson ISBN: 034538184X Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: January, 1995 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
 |
Title: Caroline Masters by Richard North Patterson ISBN: 0345444922 Publisher: Ballantrae Foundation Pub. Date: 28 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
 |
Title: Private Screening by Richard North Patterson ISBN: 0345311396 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: April, 1994 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
