The Zero Game

Picked this up for a dollar on a table outside of a thrift store. Nice hardcover edition. Do not let the first couple of chapters fool you. Wait for the drop! This book picks up and takes you on a wild unbelievable and over-the-top ride. Written well enough that to my imagination I am watching a Hollywood block buster. The pace and plot twists reminded me at times of the Pelican Brief.

I usually can't put Meltzer's work down once I pick it up, and I felt that way about this one as I went through the last half, but the pacing and the structure of this one threw me off a bit. Structurally, it felt like some odd choices were made. Chapters focusing on the protagonists were in first person present, and the few chapters focused elsewhere were in third person past, and so jumping between chapters sometimes felt fairly jarring. The plot also lagged some, about a fourth of the way in. There's a plot twist there that causes the lag, directly--or, it did for me, at least--but there's no way to speak of it more directly without giving away a piece of the plot.

That said, I understand that twist had to happen, and made sense, even show more if I didn't at the time and even if it did slow things down a bit. And, all told, Meltzer swept me back into the plot before much time had passed.

For readers who haven't read Meltzer before, I probably wouldn't suggest starting with this one--I don't think it's nearly the best--but I did really enjoy it, and it was certainly a good piece of entertainment. show less

Political suspense-thriller set mostly in Washington D.C. in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Two Capitol Hill staffers are playing a game involving betting on Congressional voting outcomes for minor legislation. The game turns deadly, a teenage page becomes involved, and the protagonists search for explanations while evading a hired assassin. While thrillers are not my normal fare, I selected this audio book to pass the time while traveling. I enjoyed a portion of the book, but had some issues with other parts.

The positives:
• The beginning included some interesting information about how legislation gets passed.
• One of the protagonists was a young black female. She was written as a strong character, and it was easy to root for her. show more It was nice to see a young woman of color featured prominently in a book published in the early 2000s.
• The friendship between two protagonists was refreshing, as there are few novels that include friendships between a two people of the opposite sex without throwing in a romance.
• It did the job in terms of keeping my brain occupied during the trip, which made the drive seem shorter.
• Flashing back to the time of widespread use of Blackberries and pagers was amusing.

The negatives:
• The plot contained many holes, which were never adequately explained.
• There seemed to be lots of filler in the form of long stretches of narrative that didn’t lead anywhere or move the plot forward.
• The narrative shifted from one character to another unnecessarily.
• The ending proved unsatisfying.

The audio book was read by Scott Brick. He did a good job of giving different voices to the characters, both male and female. He was easy to understand and follow.

Contains graphic violence and profanity. show less

Maybe it is because I was a bit disappointed by the last Brad Meltzer book I read but this one sure seems back on track for all the reasons I started reading his work.

It could be I am prejudiced nonetheless it is amazing that someone can take something so mundane as the operations of the 3 branches of the Federal Government as a great vehicle for first class thrillers. Possibly I don't give our politicians enough credit for anything more than sexual misconduct, corruption, narcissistic self-indulgence and a few that are so dedicated to unselfishly serving their constituents that it is hard to picture any really doing anything particularly thrilling. Well, Brad Meltzer over the course of his writing career has really created a very show more different opinion with the adventures he writes about.

This story is almost fitting of a James Bond adventure (my apologies to Ian Fleming) as we are taken from the storied halls of Congress to a mile below the ground and everything in between. There were a lot of twists and turns as we worked out way through an interesting and very dangerous journey to answer what seemed like the most bland of questions about a simple piece of uninteresting legislature asked to be included in a tax bill. Wow, really had some surprises even just starting out the story which switched around who we were traveling with during the course of the story.

For anyone who enjoys a good thriller would heartily recommend this book. Brad Meltzer writes a good story with generally well fleshed out characters and loves throwing out surprises that seemly develop before your eyes even when they were there all the time. show less

Review by Jeremy Taylor

The Zero Game is the latest and without question best offering from political-suspense author Brad Meltzer, a relative newcomer whose first real breakthrough came in 2002 with The Millionaires. In The Zero Game, Meltzer takes a close look at what can go wrong in the back halls of power when the truly powerful turn a blind eye to the ambitions of those who desire power at any cost. The book is well written, fast paced, and insightful, with no major problems and very few minor ones.

Harris Sandler is a Congressional aide working for one of the most powerful senators in Washington. He’s not a true power broker, but he’s a guy who can get things done. He’s well liked, not overly ambitious, and just cynical enough show more about his job to recognize a good opportunity when he sees one. In short, he’s a player in the highest-level game in the world—the game of politics in the capital of the United States.

But he’s also a player in a different game, one not nearly so well publicized, one that has never been discussed by pundits or examined by the media. This game is played in secret by an unknown number of anonymous participants. The only rule is that no player may ever reveal the secrets of the game to anyone. The players in this game are betting on the outcome of Congressional votes, and the stakes can be deadly.

In an age when many, if not most, people’s view of the political process in Washington falls somewhere between skepticism and cynicism, the notion that somewhere behind the scenes a small group of otherwise insignificant people are really calling the shots is appealing—and almost believable. Secret power and hidden ambition at the highest level are hardly novel concepts for a political thriller. Yet Meltzer manages to put a new twist to these familiar themes. With the addition of a seemingly invincible antagonist, a 16-year-old heroinne, and a daring cat-and-mouse chase that takes readers from the bowels of the earth, 8,000 feet deep in a South Dakota gold mine, to the bowels of the U.S. Capitol, Meltzer’s transformation from a mediocre fiction writer to a top-notch political novelist is complete.

Meltzer’s latest novels are unsurprisingly drawing comparisons to John Grisham and David Baldacci by many critics, and The Zero Game indicates that such observations are not without merit. Meltzer’s development as an author even since his previous novel, The First Counsel (2001) is immediately apparent in The Zero Game. The dialog is crisp and believable; the action is cinematically fast paced; the suspense is tight without ever going too far over the line toward melodrama. His portrayal of the House and Senate—particularly the members of each—is deferentially humorous while at the same time almost certainly accurate. He has left no crucial element of his writing untended, and his efforts pay off in the reader’s experience.

Meltzer draws upon his own experience as an intern on Capitol Hill to walk a fine and for the most part satisfyhing line when writing about Congress. He is knowledgeable enough about the political process not to be awestruck by our nation’s lawmakers; yet he retains just enough idealism not to be jaded by the corruption that inevitably lurks behind any number of Washington’s closed doors. And he allows his readers to view the whole Congressional system through the eyes of interns and aides, the seemingly powerless minions who write the speeches, who conduct the low-level meetings where major policy issues initially get shaped, and who in reality know more about politics than any lawmaker. One theme that comes across especially well is the relationship between Congressmen and Senators and their staffs. In one telling exchange, Viv, the 16-year-old intern who gets caught up with Harris in the corruption surrounding the game, asks another aide, Dinah, for some project books containing sensitive information. When Dinah hesitates, Meltzer writes, “Harris had warned her this might happen. That was why he gave her the ultimate comback. ‘The congressman wants them,’ Viv insisted. There was a short pause on the other line. ‘I’ll get them ready,’ Dinah eventually said.”

There are some negatives in the book as well. At times the writing seems slightly careless, as if portions were never researched and certain facts never checked. In one instance, Meltzor describes an aide walking past “the hearing room where Nixon was impeached during Watergate” (Nixon was never impeached; he resigned before the House of Representatives had a chance to vote on the articles of impeachment drawn up by the Judiciary Committee). In another, the two houses of Congress are referred to as the two branches of government. Minor offenses, but they do distract the reader from the story.

A more serious authorial offense is Meltzor’s fickleness when it comes to narrative point of view. In an apparent effort to keep the reader locked into the story, Meltzer switches back and forth between the standard third-person narrative and a more unusual first-person account written in the present tense. Designed to make reading more experiencial, like watching a movie, this writing style is difficult to do well and easy to botch. By switching back and forth, Meltzer manages to land somewhere in between; it’s a little distracting but not quite frustrating enough to dwell on. The real difference between Melter’s technique and that of, say, John Grisham, who used first-person present-tense narration to great effect in The Rainmaker, is that Grisham is smooth enough to make you forget the unfamiliar and rather awkward construction after a few chapters, while Meltzer draws attention to it by killing off his narrator. This is a dirty trick, catching the reader off-guard, again in an attempt to make the reading experience more vivid.

The unexpected death of a character assumed to be a major protagonist is not uncommon and helps keep readers on their toes. But the unexpected death of a narrator seems cheap and frankly a little strange. Even so, Meltzer manages to pull it off without leaving the reader feeling cheated—too cheated, anyway. There’s no question that there’s some bait-and-switch advertising going on somewhere between the flap copy and the actual story, but the writing is otherwise good enough that the trick almost works.

The Zero Game is a fast, entertaining read, Meltzer’s best to date. His harrowing plot lines and unconventional characters, coupled with intriguing story developments (when’s the last time you read a political thriller with a major scene taking place 8,000 feet underground?) conspire to make Meltzer one of the best of his genre. If he can keep it up, his readers will undoubtedly continue to reward him as he continues to reward them for a long time to come.

(http://www.cerebralexchange.com/books/reviews.asp?book=4&host=1) show less

This was a "Buddy" read that my husband and I read together. I hate to admit it, but this is my first Brad Meltzer novel. I had this book on my shelf for quite awhile.
This was a take no prisoners thrill ride. From the beginning to the shocking end, the twist, turns, and action never slowed down.
Matthew and Harry play what they think is a harmless little game on Capitol Hill. But, the stakes in the game suddenly take on a more serious tone. As a result, Matthew begins to feel a little nervous and decides watch the situation a little closer. But, someone doesn't like Matthew's snooping.
From the very beginning, we were hooked on this book. We both couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next.
The inside knowledge of the Capitol, show more pages, interns, and lobbyist gave the novel a feel of authenticity. The charcters were likable and we found ourselves rooting for them all the way. Be sure to stay with the book until the very end. There is a surprise twist at the end. I love that stuff!
Overall an A- show less

Matthew Mercer and Harris Sandler are best friends and have coveted roles of senior staffers to well-respected congressmen. When idealism has given way to disillusionment, one of them discovers a secret game--the Zero game. But what starts out as a fun wager between friends quickly becomes deadly when they find they're about to become the game's next victims.

This was a political thriller with lots of action and tense situations. There was a sprinkling of interesting tidbits about the workings of congress and the Capital. Some parts were a stretch and not plausible. But it was mostly entertaining and a decent thriller.