Rocketgirl's Full Review: Stuart Woods - The Run: A Novel
It's hard to categorize Stuart Woods' novels because they all seem to have a different focus. One might be suspense, one might be historical, another might be crime. They all do have a suspenseful aspect to them though, much in the way that Sidney Sheldon's books do. There is some element that makes the reader keep on reading to find the outcome. This book is no different.
Will Lee is a Democratic senator from Georgia. His friend Joe Adams is the vice president. He was going to run for president at the next election, with the promise of selecting Lee as his veep, with certain promises given. But Joe has a secret. He knows he is slowly succumbing to Alzheimer's disease. Only Lee knows this. And he knows that when it comes the time for Adams to step down from the presidential office (assuming he won it), then he would become the president.
When Joe finds out about his disease, his plans change. He's going to withdraw his candidacy and get Lee to run for president independently. At first Lee is unwilling to do that because he is not ready. But then the current president becomes ill and Joe Adams has to step in as president, right now. This changes the picture, and Lee declares his candidacy. In the meantime, Joe seems to be acting a bit odd and people are starting to pick up on it, but Lee does not reveal what he knows.
Instead he goes on the campaign trail as if it were planned all along. It looks like its going to be a long haul, with many democratic potentials fighting for the top job. People seem to respond to him and his charisma. On the other hands, there are those who want him to fail, including an ex-girlfriend, now movie star. And a rival senator, trying to make him look bad. And a wacko survivalist type, who wants him dead.
I liked the character of Will Lee because he is the type of candidate we wish they all were: non-partisan with integrity. He is not out to make a name for himself or his party, but to serve the people. I will say that the author maybe went even a little too far and made him a little milquetoast if you know what I mean. But the author did do a good job in making him someone that you hope wins.
Most of the rest of the characters are pretty wooden and not much is revealed about what kind of people they are or why are they are included in the story. The best example of this is the survivalist wacko. He hides out in a survivalist camp in the backwoods of the Pacific Northwest (implication Idaho), waiting for a cause. He decides to go to try to take out Will Lee. The reader knows he doesn't want Lee in office, but it is never explained why. Are we supposed to just assume he is a gun wacko and thinks that Lee, as a democrat, is going to try to take his gun away? I felt a much better job could have been done shaping this character and providing motivation for him. Otherwise, why be afraid of him.
One aspect I did enjoy was that considerable detail is given on how a campaign is run. Lee hires various people to provide different job functions for his campaign and he explains what they all are going to do. One of the people he hires is a former law professor, to ensure that the team does not break any campaigning, financing, or any other ethics type laws in the course of running the campaign. I found this aspect very interesting because the average person doesn't know what goes on behind the scenes of an election campaign.
The story was very fast-paced, as all of Woods' books are. The chapters are short with at least 50 percent dialogue, so they are fast reading. Each chapter breaks off, leading the reader wishing for more and being compelled to turn the next page. Because you want Lee to win, you have someone to cheer for. You also have multiple enemies that you hope get foiled. Because of its explanation of the campaign process and the political intrigue, this would be a good novel for high school students taking a civics class. I enjoyed the book, as I have all the other novels by this author that I have read.
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