The Plan: Amazon.ca: Stephen J. Cannell: Books

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran TV producer Cannell (The Rockford Files, The A-Team, The Commish, etc.) brings comic-book plotting and cellophane characterization to his first thriller, about the 1996 presidential election. The "plan" dates from the 1970s, when some farsighted mobsters decide gradually to buy controlling stakes in TV networks to give their favorite pols "face time" and eventually put their own man in the White House. It's a high-concept plot, worthy of a TV movie, but who'd want to play the hero? Ryan Bolt, an impossibly WASP-y and wimpy TV producer, is asked by short, fat and nasty Mickey Alo, his old prep-school pal, to film a documentary about a long-shot presidential hopeful. As Ryan susses out that Mickey is engaged in buying the presidency for the airhead governor of Rhode Island, he also falls hard for Lucinda Alo, Mickey's advanced degree-holding sister who, preposterously, doesn't know about the family business. The writing is by turns pretentious ("Dawn broke like a cheap wine cooler spreading an ugly red stain on the gray ocean"), silly ("Ryan knew where he was headed but had no inkling where he was going") and bafflingly vulgar ("A shot of adrenaline hit Ryan's heart like cold piss"). As Ryan is drawn deeper into the mobby machinations of Mickey, and as the fate of the Republic comes to rest on his modest shoulders, Cannell hits every lurid and gory button possible in this cartoonly tale.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

TV producer/writer Cannell has penned a thriller about the Mafia's plan to put one of their own in the White House.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

3.7 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars FAST-PACED EXCITEMENT IN THIS DEBUT, April 18 2004

By

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Plan (Mass Market Paperback)

Making his debut as a novelist, Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Stephen Cannell brings all the fast-paced excitement of his hit elevision shows to this political thriller. If you enjoyed "The Rockford Files," "The A-Team," and "Hunter," The Plan is your cup of suspense.

When TV writer/producer Ryan Holt finds his career on the skids, he's eager to help his former prep school roommate, stereotypical mob goon Mickey Alo, by coming up with a documentary about a little known presidential candidate.

Eventually, our hero discovers that Mickey is attempting to buy the presidency for the terminally ignorant governor of Rhode Island. The plot takes many twists and turns plus a few careenings as Holt eventually finds himself in a perilous mano a mano with the Mafia. The stakes are the highest office in our land.

Author Cannell has pulled out all the stops for his first page-turner.

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3.0 out of 5 stars An easy read, Dec 23 2002

By

PJH (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Plan (Mass Market Paperback)

This novel reads very much like a Hollywood movie. Not that that is a totally bad thing, sometimes all people want is a mindless book to read. The characters are interesting and there are enough plot twists to keep me reading. I'm currently pecking my way through Final Victim. 3.5 stars.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Split Decision, Jan 9 2002

By

D. Hern (CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Plan (Mass Market Paperback)

When Stephen J Cannell is good, he's very good. When he's bad, well.... When he's bad he gives every single, minor, one-page character a nickname. It gets rather distracting when it descends to the Joseph "Joe" Green level.

When he's good, he writes action sequences that grab you immediately and pull you into the book. Most of them are written well enough that it's easy to suspend your disbelief and just go along for the ride. And what a ride it is. Very fast-paced all the way through. The last 1/3 was a bit on the convoluted side, but not enough to make me stop reading.

Not for the faint of heart. If you have problems with graphic violence, best skip this one. A whole lot of people are deleted violently on both sides of The Plan.

While I would not rate this book as a standout, it did hold my interest and keep me turning pages. This was his first novel. I'll be reading more Cannell in the near future.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Politics Meets the Mob
'The Plan' is hatched by the Mafia to back a presidential candidate and get him elected in order to use him as a puppet once he's in power. Read more

Published on May 31 2001 by Untouchable

2.0 out of 5 stars story takes a fall and never recovers
For the first 250-300 pages the story is rather entertaining. After about halfway through the story the writing becomes weaker and will bounce around (but never recover)as totally... Read more

Published on Feb 15 2000 by John Doe