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A review by andyshute
Protect And Defend by Richard North Patterson
4.0
I picked this up on holiday at a leave one/take one shelf. Political thrillers aren't my usual cup of tea but this is a well constructed look at late stage abortion in the context of a partisan divide in the US.
It weaves together a large (variably developed) cast through multiple threads with themes of privacy vs public interest, the risk of turning ethical debates into political power-moves and divides, the power of big money in politics and the risk of raking through the past to take down someone's character. The abortion side of things tries to offer a slightly balanced view but obviously comes down one side and is handled well. It makes for a surprisingly visceral tale for a doorstop of a book.
Sadly, 13 yrs down the line (reading this just after Trump's attempt at a coup and insurrection in the Capitol), things have only got worse in US politics. A return to decency and the art of discourse is something to aspire to.
One completely unrelated point - I was initially interested in this due to the [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg] cover quote, so near the end when one of the characters mentions reading the latest Stephen King book, it pulled me out of the story. Completely irrelevant but there you go.
It weaves together a large (variably developed) cast through multiple threads with themes of privacy vs public interest, the risk of turning ethical debates into political power-moves and divides, the power of big money in politics and the risk of raking through the past to take down someone's character. The abortion side of things tries to offer a slightly balanced view but obviously comes down one side and is handled well. It makes for a surprisingly visceral tale for a doorstop of a book.
Sadly, 13 yrs down the line (reading this just after Trump's attempt at a coup and insurrection in the Capitol), things have only got worse in US politics. A return to decency and the art of discourse is something to aspire to.
One completely unrelated point - I was initially interested in this due to the [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg] cover quote, so near the end when one of the characters mentions reading the latest Stephen King book, it pulled me out of the story. Completely irrelevant but there you go.