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Publisher:
Time Warner Books |
Release
Date: January 2004 |
ISBN:
0-446-53098-0 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Hardcover |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Genre:
Political Thriller |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Kristin Johnson |
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The
Zero Game
By Brad Meltzer
What
do two House and Senate interns have to do to escape the endless
C-SPAN? It’s not as if you can always count on partisan bickering,
campaign finance shockers, political scandal, racist senators’
controversies, and Ted Kennedy showing up soused…oh wait a
minute, yes, you can. But apart from Teddy, as P.J. O’Rourke
says, “the real problem is that government is boring.”
Fortunately,
Brad Meltzer’s The Zero Game, which opens with the
O’Rourke witticism, not only might get people watching C-SPAN
again, it might even drive the apathetic voters who don’t
know John Kerry from Jim Carrey (here’s a tip: even if they
did once have the same bad hair, Carrey’s funnier) to turn
off the Super Bowl and care what their representatives are doing.
However,
as Monica Lewinsky proved, you also have to watch those interns.
And as Harris Sandler discovers, defending betting on congressional
legislation won’t work if all you have for your excuse is
“It was just a game,” which in Meltzer’s view
seems to be a whopper equal to “I did not have sexual relations
with that woman.” Furthermore, Meltzer makes a point as old
as Faust: The moment you forget that politics is a game that has
no clear winner, you’ve already lost your very soul.
You
can bet on seventeen-year-old Senate page Viv Parker, who’s
got plenty of soul and as much kick as Jennifer Garner, to teach
Harris that lesson. Unfortunately, the wisdom is too late for Harris’
friend Matthew Mercer, Harris’ mentor Bud Pasternak, and “the
next Colin Powell” Lowell Nash from the US Attorney General’s
office. But the slimy villains (who prove, perhaps unintentionally,
that yes, Virginia, there are WMD) Viv and Harris learn the lesson
Enron and Co. have yet to understand, for as Lowell’s assistant
says, don’t mess with the Justice Department. Also, as Harris
discovers, don’t underestimate a seventeen-year-old black
female who may herself be “the next Colin Powell”. And
don’t, before you vote in the primaries, caucuses and Decision
2004, pass up this heartfelt adrenaline rush (with the obligatory
run-for-your-life chases) coming out of Brad Meltzer.
Reviews
of other titles by Brad Meltzer
Tenth Justice [book]
The Millionaires [book]
The
Zero Game [book]
[audio]
Inner Circle (Culper Ring #1) [book]
[audio]
The Fifth Assassin (Culper Ring #2) [book]
The President's Shadow (Culper Ring #3) [audio]
[book]
The House Of Secrets [book]
The President’s Shadow [book]
[audio]
The Escape Artist [audio]
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