Synopsis
In 2003, a Constitutional crisis threatens to destroy the American political system as a disabled president and his vice-president--armed with a Twenty-fifth Amendment that allows a White House takeover in the event of presidential inability--compete for ultimate power. 100,000 first printing. Tour.
Reviews
An Acting President's power grab involves both constitutional challenge and military coup in this near-future political melodrama, with which Batchelor (Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing, 1993, etc.) makes his own grab for a large, action-oriented readership. It's 2003. In January, Democratic President Teddy Jay, abandoned by his wife and deeply depressed, entered the hospital, using the 25th Amendment to transfer his duties to Vice President Shy Garland. The story begins five months later with a military exercise, Garland's brainchild, that culminates with the shooting of a stand-in President by Col. Red Schofield, commander of the operation. As Jay, claiming recovery, prepares to rejoin his wife and resume the presidency, Garland mounts his constitutional challenge; only if it fails will he resort to the military option (code-named Father's Day). Message: ``The biggest son of a bitch...in national politics,'' for whom life is a baseball game, will do anything to win. The contest, though, is unequal: Jay is a wimp who must rely on his political enemies to restore him to power. These include Republicans like naval war hero and presidential hopeful Jack Longfellow and Longfellow's wife, Jean, the Senate Minority Leader. They get a boost when designated shooter Schofield leaks to sister Toni, who (happy coincidence) is Longfellow's mistress. During their rush to Occupied Moldova (Uncle Sam is world policeman again) to get a written statement from Schofield, Jack and Toni behave like everyone else in the book, playing with shiny new technology and racing for planes as they hurry up and wait for a twisty, improbable denouement. That's the action here, aside from a Clancy-esque rattle of hardware at the start and close. Batchelor's dubious premise (would America really give its president five months off for therapy?) and his skin-deep characterizations make for a disappointing concoction. (First printing of 100,000; film rights to Cinergi; author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
The title designates a coded operation, 10 years hence, in which a Pentagon unit assassinates the president--or is the dead man in fact the president? A proven crafter of the genre over the past decade, Batchelor here takes advantage of a time bomb ticking in the heart of the Constitution. The Twenty-fifth Amendment sets up baroque provisions for the succession should the chief executive become incapacitated; in this scenario, President Jay checks into a hospital with depression; his no-nonsense, astronaut-hero veep, "Shy" Garland, becomes the acting prez with no intention other than becoming the actual president. So when Jay announces he's over the blues and in the pink and wants back into the Oval Office, the battle for power erupts between the contenders and their courtiers and courtesans. With such a suspensefully constructed script, with doubts dangled at fitting moments as plot and counterplot zigzag toward the bang-up ending, librarians might ready themselves at DefCon One, for Holt is whooping up its popular author with a six-figure press run. Gilbert Taylor
According to the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the vice president can challenge a president who, having temporarily turned over the reins of state, wishes to resume command. If the challenge is sustained, the vice president can block the incumbent's return. Batchelor, who is credited with foretelling the Falklands War in The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica (LJ 6/1/83), combines this scenario with sexual juiciness, military adventurism, and naked ambition. The vice president not only challenges the return of the president but also springs a secret trap to assassinate him. In a clever and effective twist, the usurper thinks almost entirely in baseball metaphors, a touch that makes this novel seem like the World Series of constitutional crises. Trusting the reader to follow through some convoluted plot turns, Batchelor nonetheless marshals strong characters. His dialog is crisp, authentic, and plentiful. A sure bet for all political fiction collections.
--Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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