The Book of Fate

Dick Francis says you need to think about people wandering through airport bookshops when you're an author. They don't have a lot of time or patience to decide which book to buy so you have to capture them on the first page. Brad Meltzer snagged my attention with his opening sentence ... Six minutes from now, one of us would be dead. Eight years ago, someone opened fire on the President of the United States' limousine, killing one of his oldest friends and disfiguring his aide. Was the shooter aiming for the President, or was someone else the target? And why, eight years later, is the dead man alive and showing up near the now ex-President? As told through the voice of the aide, Wes, this book had the potential to be a real page turner. show more

The blurb on the back references buried secrets in freemason history, two hundred year old codes, and decade old puzzles, which made me think of The Davinci Code by Dan Brown. I couldn't put that book down the first time I read it. Every time I thought about taking a break, something else happened and I wound up reading it through in one sitting. While The Book of Fate had periods where I got completely caught up in the action and the story line, the momentum didn't carry for the entire book. I would be speeding along the back streets of Palm Beach with the characters, when Meltzer shifted gears and the story ground to a slow crawl. Then the lunatic escaped the asylum and we were back up to speed only to slow down again in the next chapter.

The premise was intriguing and the characters were good - ones that I'd be interested in seeing again. I'm a little disappointed in the book, though, because there was the potential of being so much more. show less

This was a hot mess. Meltzer tries to write a Dan Brown-like book and falls very, very short. He tries to weave the Masons, Jefferson, etc. into some odd plot for characters to game the system at the highest levels but fails miserably. Most of the book follows a former White House aid, Wes, who's disfigured when someone tries to assonate the president. Years later, Wes sees a colleague who he thought died during the attempt. Hundreds of pages are spent with Wes as he tries to figure out what's going on. The characters, plot, pacing, etc. is all overblown and meandering.

[The Book of Fate] by Brad Meltzer
4★'s

From the Book:
"Six minutes from now, one of us would be dead. None of us knew it was coming."

So says Wes Holloway, a young presidential aide, about the day he put Ron Boyle, the chief executive's oldest friend, into the president's limousine. By the trip's end, a crazed assassin would permanently disfigure Wes and kill Boyle. Now, eight years later, Boyle has been spotted alive. Trying to figure out what really happened takes Wes back into disturbing secrets buried in Freemason history, a decade-old presidential crossword puzzle, and a two-hundred-year-old code invented by Thomas Jefferson that conceals secrets worth dying for.

My Thoughts:

I love d the story line and will say that I had given the show more book a 4.5 star rating with the expectation of a perfect 5...until... It was an exciting action at every turn story with characters that you could love and trust in one chapter and hate and distrust before the next page. Everyone could have been the good guy and everyone could have been the bad guy. So what happened? The ending that went on and on and on and then the epilogue that was about ten minutes longer than it needed to be. Just didn't have the punch that the first 114 chapters had, not to mention that we never really found out what the tie in was with the Masons. That being said...it was an enjoyable book. I loved Brad Meltzer's television series, "History Decoded"... so I will certainly read another of his future books. show less

Wes Holloway was once an ambitious aide to the President of the United States. When an assassin's bullet permanently disfigures Wes and kills one of the President's closest friends Boyle, Wes is wracked with guilt. But when Boyle turns up, seemingly unscathed, eight years later, Wes is determined to uncover what really happened.

I loved the fact that Wes was not one of your typical strong, cocky heroes. In fact, he's incredibly emotionally vulnerable after the incident, and his mental health is largely supported by his devotion to the former President. I loved watching him wrestle with the idea that his 'rock' could be involved in this kind of plot. Wes' vulnerability both increases the stakes and sets this apart from many thrillers. As show more for the Masonic premise...it's not that I needed a far-fetched conspiracy involving the Freemasons - but when that sort of thing features so prominently on the cover & jacket copy... well, WHERE were my Freemasons?

More at my blog. show less

Nutshell--Good, engaging, but not even as complex as a Castle episode/mystery

While a good page-turner, I figured out the alleged surprise identity of a hidden "person behind it all" about a third of the way into the book. It didn't diminish some of the suspense or other side-mysteries, but it felt a bit going-through-the-numbers to me.

I decided to read this because I wondered why Brad Meltzer was getting such big reviews and sales; his Identity Crisis for DC Comics was my first exposure to him and I still haven't forgiven him for his ruination of Ralph & Sue Dibny (not to mention the cascading domino-theory problem from his retconned ideas in said mini-series).

Will I read more Meltzer? Sure, if the topic at hand is interesting to me, show more but I won't be expecting a mystery that keeps me guessing. He's more a thriller writer than mystery I suppose, but when all you know is the author's marketing & book covers, that's how they seem at first blush to this reader. show less

To be honest, this was the best book I ever picked from a charity shop. It definitely brought me out of my reading slump despite taking half a year to read (I’m slow). However taking it on a trip definitely brought me back to it.

I loved the plot and didn’t expect the third member of The Three to be who it was. Wes overall was someone I fell in love with. Boyle on the other hand confused me with the random pieces of info thrown into the story.

Would defo recommend this to anyone who loves a mystery/Political type book.

I liked this book, if was a fun quick read. Now, If you are looking for stuff about Freemason there are other books that are more interesting. The square and compass on the cover is about as much masonic mystery as you are going to get. There is some general history about some famous people that were know to be free masons and there is some of the normal conspreciy theary stuff that you hear spouted on the internet about free masons but there is very little in this book that has to do with masonry.
This book is about high level government conspiracy that have to do with politics and influences. The beginning is the best part of the book and I enjoyed some of the early character development but the book ends in the typical way of a show more thriller with out allot of surprises.

So I found it enjoyable, but I don't think it will make my personal top 100 books.

Also, if your a free mason there is not really anything that is negative about the craft in this book. If anything, it shows how people will manipulate others it to believing untruths for their own gain. show less