Ralph Reed

The Confirmation is a political thriller with simply no thrills. Contrived dialog, ravenous clichés and a plot bordering (or not) on ridiculous creates a tiring narrative. Most of Reed’s time seemed to be spent on setting scenes instead of moving the story. He spent copious amounts of the book identifying every article of clothing of every single character...in excruciating detail. The plot itself requires everyone to be so ignorant of everything going on around them as to be farcical. show more The result...The Confirmation fails to entertain and is at times simply painful to read. If you have an interest in political intrigue, there are literally hundreds of better written books for you to choose from including The Whole Truth, by David Baldacci (4 stars, Recommended). Short of that, you might be better served turning on C-SPAN. show less

Oy veh. This book proved absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to stomach! For one thing, "thriller" is pretty much a misnomer in this case ... there was nothing thrilling about it, nor even anything suspenseful. Most of the "action" was telegraphed far in advance -- or so predictable that it was painful to read. And being written by a member of the Christian Right [to which I had paid no notice when I requested it originally], there was no tough language that one pretty much expects when reading a show more thriller/suspense novel. I don't necessarily WANT someone to swear a blue streak at every turn -- it's just not reasonable to expect that NO ONE in Washington cusses -- EVER. One character even mentions that a man looks at her "bootie" [which is misspelled -- and yes, I know this is an ARC, but still!] rather than the "a-word" most people would expect to see. Honestly!
If it were possible to give no stars for this book, I definitely would. DO NOT waste your time with it! show less

I started out really enjoying this book. Then I learned just who the author was. It seems the head Conservative in one of the most Conservative states in America wrote this book to subliminally sabotage the Democratic Party.

It starts out with the sabotage of a centrist-Democrat's attempt to gain the Democratic presidential nomination, then failing because of a hardcore Liberal who cheats his way to the nomination. Meanwhile, the hardcore Republican-Conservative is coasting a presidential show more victory. After a while the Centrist-Democrat, who finds himself a born-again devout Christian, begins considering an Independent run for president. Meanwhile, the hardcore Liberal's campaign seems to draw a parallel with John McCain's 2008 campaign, by choosing an idiotic, inexperienced female governor. She makes numerous mistakes, and idiotic statements, and is dragging down the entire campaign. On top of that, the FBI and Virginia State Police begin investigating voter fraud in Virginia that helped Hardcore Liberal get the nomination for president. All this is going on while an Iranian terrorist is planning a terror attack somewhere in the US that supposed to make American's forget about 9/11, and careen the United States towards war with Iran. There's also a subplot about a rich, conservative, smart, handsome, doctor/priest who owns a conglomerated TV network trying to get Republicans to swing from 'center-right' to 'slightly right of Rush Limbaugh'. Evidently, this character is a euphemism for Ralph Reed himself.

The entire book seems to be based off Reed's wet-dream of a perfect election. The book has hardly been taken seriously outside the RNC's book club, which is why I found it exactly where it belongs: in the bargain bin at Borders.

All in all, this book is merely an attempt for Ralph Reed to try to get his political views off subliminally, while subliminally scare-mongering paranoid xenophobic Americans against Iran. I've been mentioning the word 'subliminally' a lot, which is why I should mention that this book is about as subliminal as a billboard with huge, flashing, writing on it.

This book is like a poor kid getting a PlayStation 3 box for Christmas filled with socks. It's fun and good-natured on the outside, but once you get inside, it dark, soulless, for some reason leaning tremendously to the right, and deep down you knew you should've been expecting from the start. show less

Meh. This has all the makings of a good TV script. For anyone who has ever lived "inside the Beltway" in the Washington DC area, it is more of the same-oh, same-oh.

Written by a so-called Washington insider, with book blurbs by such auspicious beings as Karl Rove, and a dedication to Oliver North (among others) I did not want to read it at all (my political leanings are on the other side of the fence.) However since I got it for the Early Review program, I read the whole thing.
It's not a show more bad book, but if there was the equivalent of political chick-lit, this is it! The characters are caricatures and there are far too many of them. I had to get a paper and construct a scorecard to keep track of who was who. There were 27 major players introduced in the first 35 pages.

The plot is dully predictable, and for cripes sake, the editor can't even recognize that THERE IS NO LETTER "J" in the Italian alphabet! The author has one of the main characters traveling through Italy sprinkling "Bon Journo" all over the place. HELLO---it's "Buongiorno" or at least if he's speaking french, it's "Bonjour". This is the kind of sloppy publishing that makes me less than positively disposed to recommend a book to others.

Basically it's the story of an unpopular president (he was elected by the House of Representatives after capturing only 37%? of the vote, who must fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. The Senate of course is going to take its constitutional responsibilities very seriously and make sure that they are really the ones doing the appointing. There are the usual scandals, lobbyists, back door doings, lives ruined, check-ins to rehab, etc etc etc. When you get to the end, you're just glad to have it over with. Sorta sounds like real life in DC right?

If you are a political junkie, don't mind cardboard characters and a plot that trudges along like a deadlocked senate, you might like this one. If you're looking for a thriller, there are plenty of better ones out there. show less