It's not pretty behind the political scenes...
Another great story from Patterson - and so timely, too.  Between reading this book and watching the primary reviews each night, I feel like I'm getting the total picture - not a very appetizing one, I'm afraid.  At times, I wondered if Patterson was letting his imagination run wild with some of the political shenanigans, but when I got to the end, and saw the names of all the people he consulted in writing this book, I realized that I'm probably pretty naive about what's really going on.<br /><br />The deals and the bribes and the quid pro quos - is it really possible to find an honest politician in Washington?  Or is arm-twisting and blackmailing and falsely accusing someone of something horrendous just an accepted strategy for getting ahead around the beltway?<br /><br />The characters (and candidates for president) are a war hero, an evangelist and a puppet (whose strings are being pulled by a kingmaker).  You find yourself assigning names of real people to these characters. Patterson evidently began The Race in 2004, but put it aside in favor of what was a more timely subject at the time - the Palestinian-Israeli conflict - thus, Exile.  That was an extremely well-researched book and a wonderful read.  It follows that The Race was constructed with the same attention to detail and accuracy. That just makes it all the more scary!<br /><br />Patterson keeps you wondering about the outcome of the story right up to the last couple of pages - and, I must say, it was a very satisfying ending.  I'm glad that I read this book - it was time well spent, but it was a lot like reading really awful stuff about people you respect - you do a lot of head-shaking and, idealist that I am, a lot of hand-wringing. Don't you just hate it when you have to come out of your dream world and face reality?  I fear that Patterson has given us a very realistic look at what really goes on.  It's all about digging up the dirt and knowing when to use it.  Timing is everything.