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The Book of Fate

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How far would you go to uncover a secret? What if the secret was so huge, so incredible, that it would destroy your life and the lives of all those around you? What if uncovering this secret would destroy the foundations upon which the world was built? How far would you go?

Wes Holloway is a presidential aide to US President Leland Manning. Having caused a scheduling error, Deputy Chief of Staff Ron Boyle missed his meeting with the President and is pissed at Holloway. Trying to smooth things over, Wes invites Boyle into the Presidents limo as it travels to a NASCAR promotional event. No one can predict how the event will end; but it will end in blood.

When Nico, a man bent on uncovering the secrets of the Masons that have infected the White House, takes a shot at President Manning, he does two things: disfigures Wes Holloway and kills Ron Boyle. At least, that is what everyone thinks. Eight years later, when Holloway, still a presidential aide, sees Boyle back stage at one of Manning's speeches, his life is turned upside down.

Though no one believes him, Wes knows that Boyle is back. For what purpose, he cant' know. But when Wes begins to dig, he discovers a secret that will shake the foundation upon which the
United States was built. Wes suspects that Manning invited Boyle behind stage that day to wait for him, that Manning is involved with a group called The Three.

Free Masons are an organization older than time. What started as a group of free masons who built structures became an organized secret society that uses secrets, symbols and mystery to gain power. Only the elite can become a Free Mason, only the most powerful. Has President Manning fallen under their spell like other
US Presidents before him?

Why is Boyle back? Who are The Three? And what mysteries must Wes Holloway solve in order to save his life? He must race against time with the help of a lawyer, a gossip columnist and others if he is to unravel the mysteries surrounding him and save his life; and the world itself.

The Book of Fate is without a doubt the best political thriller I have ever read. It's far better than anything John Grisham has ever penned and just as fast and furious as something written by James Patterson. The chapters fly by in a flurry of pages and all the while you're thinking: How is this book going to end?

Having never read anything by Meltzer, I read the first page not expecting much. I thought that The Book of Fate would be a cheap DaVinci Code knock off and that would be that. I am so thrilled that I was wrong! For those of you worried that Meltzer is hopping on the DaVinci Code bandwagon, fear not! The Book of Fate if as far away from The DaVinci Code you can get and so, so much better.

Meltzer has to be commended on imagining such a tale. There are so many different character, so many different locales for the novel, yet he keeps track of them all, pulling the reader deeper and deeper into a mystery that is not what it seems at all. Once you think you've figured out where the book is going, it pulls you in another direction entirely until you're left spellbound.

Suffice it to say that The Book of Fate is absolutely incredible. It's well plotted, amazingly executed and the plot goes a mile a minute. The plot, though fantastical, remains grounded and believable and you can tell that Meltzer has done his research. He has crafted a thriller so taunt, so wonderful that you'll find yourself calling in sick to work to finish reading it.

Read it, read it, read it. I can't recommend this one highly enough.

What would be surprising to readers would be a new thriller about the highest levels of government that did not include dishonesty, self-dealing, and double-crossing. So this novel doesn't surprise. Mr. Meltzer tries hard to put some freshness into his book by dreaming up a deluded crazy assassin who was trained as a sniper because of his unusual skills, and adding interesting historical references in a couple of places. But the book doesn't stand out among the genre, mostly because several of the plot premises don't make a lot of sense.

Within a few pages, you find out that former wet-behind-the-ears presidential aide, Wes Holloway, had his face disfigured in an assassination attempt on the president, Leland Manning, during a re-election campaign stop at a NASCAR race event, where the president lost his best friend, Ron Boyle, in the shooting. Eight years later, Wes is still working for the former president and stumbles onto Boyle (whose face has been transformed by plastic surgery) backstage during a speaking event by Manning in Malaysia. Boyle bolts, and Wes is left with a lot of uncomfortable questions about what's going on. Surprisingly, Wes doesn't say a word to Manning, but begins to check into what's going on.

Wes's quiet investigation parallels a desperate search by two shadowy figures for Boyle, who follow Wes in hopes of locating Boyle that way. A third figure introduces us to the assassin, Nicholas (Nico) Hadrian, who has been fed a conspiracy theory about manipulation by the Masons to help satan. Before long, these four figures are on a collision course with Wes and the allies he brings to his investigation who include his former mentor, also former presidential aide; his roommate, a lawyer who specializes in speeding and parking tickets; and a Palm Beach gossip columnist.

Ultimately, the story is about who you can trust . . . and Wes learns that you cannot be too careful, as one person after another turns out to be a double-dealer of one sort or another.

The final action sequence is pretty entertaining, so you'll feel rewarded if you plow through to the end.

The book's key problem is that many of the plot aspects that could have provided good puzzles are revealed in the first 100 pages or so. That means you spend a lot of time following Wes as he unravels factors that you already understand. That slows the book down quite a bit over the pace it could have had.

If you are like me, you'll find the purpose behind the attack and its consequences to be a little hard to swallow.