Irving Wallace (1916–1990)

This work, published in 1964, is about the surprising accession of a black man to the office of the presidency of the United States after the unexpected deaths of the president, the vice-president and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1964, this would have been an amazing event, as the book demonstrates. I don't even remember (I was too young) if there were any black Americans in Congress at that time (John Lewis? not yet?). Now that we have had a black president who was popular enough to be elected to 2 terms in office, I suppose I must ask, as mentioned in the other review, whether this book is still relevant. I think the answer is unequivocally yes. "Bypassing" the color barrier with Barack Obama was certainly momentous, but we must acknowledge that Barack Obama was somehow able to relate to people of all races and nationalities possibly because of his experiences in a biracial family and maybe also because he was/is extremely charismatic and intelligent. However he still faced issue regarding his skin color — remember that some people claimed he wasn't American — and the color barrier still exists for most people.

Having said this, I only gave this book 3 1/2 stars because it took so long to get to the interesting points. By slowly and solidly building the backgrounds of the characters and the story, it took a lot of patience to get to the part where conflicts and matters of race were injected into the daily running of the country and caused so much difficulty for President Dilman. Nevertheless, by the time I finished the book, I found that I liked it very much. The question that needs to be asked on a regular basis is: how do our black brethren in this country feel about our white countrymen? And vice versa? Sadly, there is still so much racial violence. Can we ever become a colorblind society? What will it take to reach that goal? The outcome in the book is not perfect and it does not suggest that much progress will be made by having the first black president (at least in the 1960s) but the story gives us hope and suggests the value of all victories — large and small — towards that goal.… (more)

This novel is very much in line with the stories like "Seven days in May" only difference being [and this is applicable also to modern thrillers where antagonists are either terrorists from all over the world or standard Cold War [like] Russia] that main concern here is not external enemy but internal one - crime.

We follow acting Attorney General Christopher Collins as he slowly (and entirely by accident) comes across a conspiracy that aims at changing the way country works using raising crime rates as a pretext.

It is a scary book - not as much because of the plot but because of the possibility. People trust their elected officials for guidance and if officials abuse their power (or are intentionally misled in their actions) then people will end up in a situation where they become oppressed party. Interesting thing here is that their oppressors [who are doing what they are doing always under the pretense of helping people] are now surprised because did not that same people vote for their current state of affairs - so why are they raising their voice now, are they the rebellious element of society? Dictators rarely see themselves as despots - they see themselves as parental figures (yes there were female dictators too through history) who guide their people because these people is always viewed by dictators as children that do not know better and need their's [dictator's] guidance at all times (famous excuse).

Very good book. Unfortunately it is also as relevant today as it was in 1970's when it was initially published.… (more)