Protect and Defend

Rating:
Summary: Gripping story, but very biased!!
Review: I think it's safe to say that Richard North Patterson is a great storyteller!! "Protect and Defend" was the first of his books that I had ever read. It tells the story of a newly elected president and his first major decision...the appointment of a new chief justice to the Supreme Court. Politics, of course, makes this decision a difficult one for the president. When he finds his prime candidate, her past, as well as that of the rest of the characters, threatens to be divulged. In the most extreme cases, some pasts are thrown on the front pages of the news causing the most devasting of circumstances!!! Some recover, while others are left picking up what's left of their lives.
The book is without a doubt a page-turner. However, it is biased very much in favor of the left. While one gets a glimpse into just how much politics can affect the running of the country, this book goes out of its way to show the right as unredeemably bad and the left as undoubtedly good. I believe the author could have at least tried to be somewhat fair in his portrayal of both sides.
Finally, be prepared to face the toughest questions concerning abortion, specifically partial-birth abortion!!! The story is set up with the most difficult of situations. Here again, though, the right are painted as completely uncompromising to the point of being inhumane. The left, though, is either on the fence or shown to be compassionate. Politics aside, however, the questions are legit. What if such situations were to happen in real life?? They probably have occurred already to some degree. What is the morally right thing to do?? Is there a morally right answer?? This book will confront you with such questions!! What will your answers be??

Rating:
Summary: intolerance speaks
Review: At the end of the book, Patterson writes that the 2 largest pro-life groups did not respond to his request for information. They must have read the manuscript and realized how hopeless it was. Patterson goes to great detail in investigating the pro-choice arguments but litters the opposite side with the standard southern, white, male, close-minded stereotypes. His blame of lack of research on the pro-life groups is lame and without support. He should have spent some time trying to understand the mindset of conservatives and pro-life advocates and he would have been much more successful in articulating this difficult subject. He ends up with the tired liberal picture of being tolerant of anyone who does not believe in absolute truth. And intolerant of anyone who does. He could have done so much better.

Rating:
Summary: Preaching to the Left-wing Choir
Review: From the pulpits of east and west coast liberal meccas, Martha's Vinyard and San Francisco, Patterson rants to his masses. His praises are sung on the review pages by such unbiased reviewers as Mario Cuomo, Barbara Boxer, Molly Ivins, Archibald Cox and the head of the ACLU - gee I wonder in which direction we are headed? This book is laden with cartoon characters - good hearted, good natured, big thinking liberal lawyers and alternately thuggish or hopelessly misguided and bovine Christian conservatives.

As the book opens, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (a card-carrying Conservative) is so apoplectic over the Democratic swearing in ceremony that he collapses in a fatal stroke. Frankly, its all downhill from there. Patterson's treatise is a pre-emptive cruise missile strike paving the way for the salvation of partial birth abortions. America, as portrayed in this novel is a land of manipulative mean-spirited, deep-pocketed Christians and liberals courageous enough to battle these evil minions.

Regardless of what the reader may think of the abortion debate, there is nothing quite so tedious as being bludgeoned with terribly one-sided arguments for over six hundred pages. I would recommend reading Patterson's thrillers and suggest to the author that he leave the left-wing diatribes to writers for the Washington Post and New York Times.

Rating:
Summary: Protect and Defend
Review: I can't believe I have not read a Richard North Patterson book before. This held me in it's grip as Grisham or Baldacci never have. It felt real and read easily. The ultimate tests have been- I still recall the story weeks after closing the back cover, buying another copy for a friend, and using scenario's from the story in conversation.
Today I purchased Degree of Guilt. We shall see if I am as enthralled...

Rating:
Summary: Patterson triumph: Protect and Defend
Review: I had never heard of Richard North Patterson until I read this book. I am a 65 year old Gynecologist who does not read a lot of fiction, but since reading Protect and Defend (P&D), I have read two other works by Patterson: the newly retitled Caroline Masters and No Safe Place. While these are not so fine as Protect and Defend, which I consider on a plane with The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevski, they are also compelling books of their genre. Back to P&D - As a close observer of the political scene for the past 50 years and one with an extensive and hardwon knowledge of the abortion issue and its advocates on both sides, this book is a like a college course in current American political life and mores as well as the highly complex and agonizing partial birth abortion controversy. I was surprised and pleased that someone who was neither a physician nor a politician could "get it right" on so many levels: current day partisan political infighting over a supreme court nominee, campaign finance and the serious consequences of its current practice, the highjacking of the once responsible Repubilcan Party by special interests and the Religious Right, the extreme difficulty of adhering to principle by politicians dependent on the hugh sums of money poured into the politican system by one issue interest groups on both the left and the right, and last but not least, the complexity of the compelling legitimate arguments on both sides of the abortion issue. While North might seem to favor the Pro-choice forces, he demonstrates admirably the compelling arguments and the sincerity of many in the rank and file on the Pro-life side in his portrayal of the Tiernay parents and Senator Chad Palmer, while portraying accurately the crassness and insensitivity of radical partisans on both sides in his picture of the Christian Committment's attorney's (Pro-life) and the Anthony's Legions' leader's (Pro-choice) willingness to destroy anyone unwilling to march the last mile with them. I have recommended this book to every friend and aquaintance and patient I have seen in the last month, since I bought and read it, and will continue to do so.

Rating:
Summary: Ham Fisted
Review: 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:
Summary: Pretty exhaustive, if biased coverage to two big issues
Review: I will first compliment the author on doing a pretty good job of trying to present MOST of the issues covering the topics of this book; namely abortion and political maneuvering. I say pretty good, not outstanding for a few reasons. First, the author, clearly liberal, does try to humanize most of his conservative opponents, which I doubt a conservative writer taking on something this big would do if the situation were reversed. Yet ALL the liberal characters portrayed are compassionate human beings, and ALL the really nasty people happen to be on the conservative side. There are also a few missing pieces in the abortion argument, which I'll address later. By the way, the author of this review leans slightly towards the left for his political camp.

The book builds up to interesting stories at once. First, the machinations involved in selecting a Supreme Court Chief Justice. The second is a challenge by a fifteen year-old pregnant girl who wants to have an abortion without her parents' consent.

Less compelling of the two is the Supreme Court story, only because it does leave a bad taste in one's mouth about how high-stakes politics works. No player is without blame in this story, which makes one wonder sometimes if we are doing it right. The argument for this centers around the practice that getting into power is by far the most important goal, much more than actually doing the best thing for the people they govern. So much so that they will do whatever they can to hinder the progress of government when the other guy is in power to show that your own side can do it better.

Both sides will also present extreme cases as the norm when trying to deface the other side, which the issues in this book do big time. The issues of smear campaigns and digging up personal dirt also get examined. I should point out that in the book it is the conservatives who publicly drag a liberal's sexuality through the mud, where the only real instance of this I can recall is the liberal smear campaign of Clarence Thomas. Just trying to play fair here.

The other story concerns the abortion story. I will give credit to the author by bringing most of the arguments both sides have on the issue, and going into great depth on both sides. The author clearly thinks abortion is the way to go, but he does give the pro-life ample time by describing the actual procedure of a so-called "partial birth" ( a media-generated term, we learn) abortion, the one the fifteen-year-old would have to have. But he leaves out two important issues, which tend to tip HIS argument in HIS favor.

First, while proclaiming that abortion is good because it prevents unwanted children from being born to parents that can't afford them, the fact remains that most abortions are done by middle and upper class women as a convenient form of birth control. Lower income women keep their babies more than upper class women. Second, the abortion doctor they present is a compassionate one who would only perform "partial-birth" when it will benefit the health of the mother. It doesn't bother to mention that most abortion clinics really are "mills", where the academic worst of the medical-school crop run businesses strictly based on the fact that the more abortions they perform, the more money they will make. This, and the fact that most of the pro-lifers in the trial do get there heads handed to them by the young feminist lawyer point out that all that is right and true seems to belong to the liberal world. As a left-leaner, I don't buy all of it.

Rating:
Summary: Protect and Defend: An Intellectual Read to be Enjoyed
Review: Protect and Defend by Richard North Patterson is a book that intertwines politics and ethics, career goals and the instinct to do what's right. It begins with Democrat Kerry Kilcannon narrowly winnning the office of Commander in Chief. When Kilcannon first assumes position in the Oval Office, he faces choosing a replacement for the Chief Justice for the United States Supreme Court. The president selects Caroline Masters, not only a liberal, but a woman. Republican opposistion includes Senator MacDonald Gage who searches to find the well hidden secret on this Californian judge to stop her from assuming office. Meanwhile, a recent law passed has sparked a historical case regarding abortion. Young lawyer Sarah Dash fights for 15-year-old Mary Ann Tierney not only against the church and pro-life supporters, but against the pregnant girl's parents. As the case battles forward, secrets and deceit are revealed on others besides Caroline Masters and Mary Ann Tierny. The fight for truth against ambition can be encountered by many characters in Patterson's masterpiece. Protect and Defend leads up to a riviting decision that will forever effect the United States.

I am a teenager, yet I found Protect and Defend very interesting and revealing of politics. The plot and characters are easily grasped, and the reading is relatively easy with the short chapters. However, the actually length of the book left a little to be desired, after awhile it felt like the numerous pages were bogging me down and halting me from enjoying the book's true potential. I have no other complaints, I know I will have to read the book again to search for details missed, but I can honestly say I will not mind doing so.

Rating:
Summary: Protect and Defend: An Intellectual Read to be Enjoyed
Review: Protect and Defend by Richard North Patterson is a book that intertwines politics and ethics, career goals and the instinct to do what's right. It begins with Democrat Kerry Kilcannon narrowly winnning the office of Commander in Chief. When Kilcannon first assumes position in the Oval Office, he faces choosing a replacement for the Chief Justice for the United States Supreme Court. The president selects Caroline Masters, not only a liberal, but a woman. Republican opposistion includes Senator MacDonald Gage who searches to find the well hidden secret on this Californian judge to stop her from assuming office. Meanwhile, a recent law passed has sparked a historical case regarding abortion. Young lawyer Sarah Dash fights for 15-year-old Mary Ann Tierney not only against the church and pro-life supporters, but against the pregnant girl's parents. As the case battles forward, secrets and deceit are revealed on others besides Caroline Masters and Mary Ann Tierny. The fight for truth against ambition can be encountered by many characters in Patterson's masterpiece. Protect and Defend leads up to a riviting decision that will forever effect the United States.

I am a teenager, yet I found Protect and Defend very interesting and revealing of politics. The plot and characters are easily grasped, and the reading is relatively easy with the short chapters. However, the actually length of the book left a little to be desired, after awhile it felt like the numerous pages were bogging me down and halting me from enjoying the book's true potential. I have no other complaints, I know I will have to read the book again to search for details missed, but I can honestly say I will not mind doing so.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating from beginning to end
Review: 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.