Rating: 
Summary: protect and defend
Review: Although I've appreciated Patterson's many previous works, and am impressed that he consulted many experts for research on this novel, including Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barbara Boxer and Bob Dole, I dissent from the accolades of Amazon's other reiewers. I found this book to be mired in redundant details ad nauseum, with a formulaic plot that led to the obvious conclusions. Patterson, apparently felt compelled to put every iota of the information he gleamed about his various controversial and complex investigations into the book. The characters seemed to be cardboard stereotypes and the novel could have eliminated about 200 pages and perhaps been an engaging story. I have to wonder if CNN paid Patterson for the magnanimous publicity it received.
Rating: 
Summary: PROTECT AND DEFEND -- IF YOU HAVE THE "MONEY" BEHIND YOU
Review: Richard North Patterson is one of my favorite authors in this genre and Degree of Guilt, Eyes of the Child and The Final Judgement will go down as three of my favorite books of all time. Bearing all this in mind and knowing that Caroline Masters (who appeared in all three of the aforementioned books) was one of the featured main characters in his newest book, Protect and Defend, I anxiously awaited its arrival in the bookstores. So you can imagine how hard it is for me not to give this book a five star rating. I'm struggling to give it 4 stars and will do so only because Patterson is a talented author and, in my eyes, can't tell a bad story. My feeling is that if you weren't sick of hearing about the abortion issue on every politician's lips before, you will certainly be sick of it after reading this book. There were so many times during this reading that I said, "all right already -- I get the picture." Don't get me wrong -- I am making no political statement here pro or con. This book deftly gives you both sides of the issue brilliantly and with duly noted extensive research on the part of the author. I just felt there were at least 200 unnecessary pages in this 549 page book and, after awhile, I felt I was being lectured.The book begins with Kerry Kilcannon's inauguration, a character already featured in previous RNP books. By the slimmest of margins (sound familiar), he has finally been elected President of the United States. Of course, his excitement of the day is short-lived as the present Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court has a sudden stroke and dies at the ceremony leaving an opening that President Kilcannon must now fill. He nominates Caroline Masters, a judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Fans of Patterson, who have already read The Final Judgement, will know that her rise to the Circuit Court was no easy task and also that she has some secrets in her past that could come to light with the scrutinizing that the nominating committee will oversee. This nomination is an important one because it cold swing the vote in an already closely divided Supreme Court. The one thing in her favor is that she has never come up against any abortion issues so her views are her own -- PRIVATE -- or is there such a word in politics? Just as her nomination is coming to the forefront, Sarah Dash, an ex law clerk of Masters, has agreed to take on the case of a 15 year old girl who wants a late term abortion but her parents won't allow it for religious, moral and political reasons. If Caroline Masters wasn't involved in a case having to do with abortion before, she will be in the thick of it right now. This book actually made me sick of politics and sick of the hypocrisy of the whole thing. It is full of characters who are spouting one belief yet are doing something totally against their beliefs in the background -- come to think of it, this book could have been non-fiction. The one thing that I did come away with after reading this book was how very important these Supreme Court nominations really are and how the balance of power can shift by just one appointment. Unfortunately, it also showed me the power behind some of the lobbyists who use politicians as puppets. The moral of this story is -- MONEY TALKS -- a very sad moral to this reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Protect and Defend
Review: A "Great" read. A real eye opener as far as politics is concerned. I did not want it to end, and would like to hear more of the Kerry Kilcannon character in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Forget the politics - a fascinating read.
Review: This is a excellant book. Patterson treats both sides of the issue involved fairly, in my mind (I was as irritated at the anti-abortion characters as other reviewers were at the pro-abortion leanings). The book was suspenseful. The characters were well drawn. The plot was compelling. If you can get by the politics, it is a wonderful novel.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best books I have ever read
Review: This is a book that I am recommending to all of my friends. It is a must read. While truely a fictional piece, one can see the "seek and destroy" that our political system has become. Don't start the book until you have plenty of time, because it is one that you will have trouble putting down. I have always enjoyed Richard North Patterson, but this is his best yet. While it does have a "left wing" slant to it, read it with an open mind.
Rating:
Summary: what might have been
Review: This is a well written novel that has been tarnished by the authors liberal pro abortion views. Liberals are painted as heros fighting for the rights of the poor suffering young girl. Pro life views are caricatured. Attorney Saunders is a bully. Christian pickets torment women. Any attempt to protect human life results in terrible consequences for the pregnant woman. No mention is made of ANY good that pro life people do. This is nota novel. It is a political tract. If only Patterson had made some effort to credit the pro life side with fair and honest motives, this would have been an excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Patterson just raised the bar
Review: Of the many books I've read, including all by Richard North Patterson, I have never read one so rich and compelling. Mr. Patterson is brilliant, not only in his exhaustive research, (his acknowledgements are substantial), but also in his ability to deeply comprehend his findings and then relay them in such an intelligible style. The many complicated facets of this book--politics, medicine, morality and legality--are beautifully and skillfully conveyed. The thing I loved most about this book was how much the author managed to teach me, while keeping me totally absorbed in the gripping plot line and numerous compelling characters. We learn something from everything we read; indeed, many of us read to gain knowledge while being entertained. In this regard, no book surpasses PROTECT AND DEFEND by Richard North Patterson. Thank you, sir, for this enlightening, captivating, unforgettable novel.
Rating:
Summary: Good guys--bad guys
Review: It was past midnight and this 82-year-old body needed its sleep and I still had fifty pages to go--but no way was I going to put down the novel until the bad guys got their comeuppance. What's with this 'propaganda' charge levied by a few disgruntled readers? Is it not true that one of our major political parties has its hand deep into the pockets of the Christian fundamentalists and the NRA? And is it not also a fact that this same political party has fought political finance reform tooth and nail? I believe Patterson has shown restraint by not touching ont the murders committed by the fundamentalists in the name of the pro-life movement. I've read all of Patterson's novels and I think this is his best. Can't wait for his next one--I may buy two, to make up for the reader who says he'll not buy another. I'm sure the reader will have lost more than Patterson. Talk about 'cutting off your face to spite your face'.
Rating:
Summary: Washington Intrigue and Down-and-Dirty Politics
Review: Richard North Patterson's latest novel, Protect and Defend, takes some old characters to new places, and gives us a riveting and educational story. As Kerry Kilcannon completes his oath of office as President of the United States, swearing to "protect and defend the Constitution", the Chief Justice of a bitterly divided and partisan Supreme Court collapses and dies. Unexpectedly, one of the new President's first acts will need to be the appointment of a new Chief, who will be the tie-breaker on the new Court. Kilcannon, whom we met in an earlier novel when his candidate brother was assassinated, chooses Appellate Judge Caroline Masters from California, also significant in previous Patterson stories, to be the first woman Chief Justice. At first this seems both a good political and statesmanlike call. Masters has a solid and balanced judicial record, no controversies, and is a female. She also impresses Kilcannon with the sensitivity of her rulings. Then the problems start. One of Masters' former clerks, now an associate in Master's former law firm, pro bonos for a San Francisco women's clinic. Sarah Masters is a promising, sharp lawer. She is also sympathetic to the case of a fifteen-year-old, six-months pregnant unwed mother-to-be who has just learned that her baby will have little, if any, brain and is unlikely to survive after birth. Moreover, because of the baby's hydrocephalism, it must be delivered by classic c-section. This means there is a significant risk that the mother will bear no other children. She wants an abortion so that she will be able to have other, living children. A new federal law, however, prohibits late term abortion for minors without parental consent. The girl's parents are avid pro-lifers who refuse to consider consent. Her only hope is to challenge the federal law, and to do so quickly, before she comes to term. Since the lawyer in this case is a former clerk, and somewhat protege of the nominee for chief justice, and since the case will be heard in the nominee's appellate circuit, the case becomes a bellweather for the nominee's confirmation in the Senate. Sides are quickly drawn, pitting a conservative Republican majority against a brand new President who barely squeaked by in his election. The politics are dirty, the characters are finely drawn, and the story is fascinating. Patterson has produced a winner. This reader's only concern with the books is the near sterotyping of some of the characters. Like TV's West Wing, most of the republicans are almost single-issue demagogues and most of the democrats are rational, sensitive, moderates. Rational, sensitive, conservatives do exist, but they don't get much play; and some democrats do take knee-jerk, extreme and single issue positions. But, hey, this is a novel and it is a darn good story.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down!!
Review: Patterson does it again!! Super plot, timely subject matter. This should be required reading for every so-called "pro-lifer" out there. Maybe it will make them think.......
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