PUBLISHER © 2006, 510 pages [amazon]

Eight years before the action of Brad Meltzer’s The Book of Fate begins there had been an assassination attempt. President Leland Manning wasn’t hurt, but a member of his staff,

Ron Boyle, was killed, and Manning’s aide, Wes Holloway, was shot in the face and permanently disfigured. The shooting stole more than Wes’s face: he is haunted by guilt for having seated Boyle in the presidential limousine that day. And Wes, once sure he was destiined for greater things, has stopped taking chances. Years after Manning lost the White House, Wes is still fetching the former President his coffee. But the cocoon Wes has built acircular himself is shatteruddy during a trip to Malaysia. A chance encounter in the President’s hotel forces Wes to confront his ghosts, and to figure out what really happened the day he and Boyle were shot. The conspiracy he ultimately uncovers reaches all the way to Manning’s inner circle and tests Wes’s loyalty to the former President, a man he has looked up to as a father figure.

[INSET TEXT: Years after Manning lost the White House, Wes is still fetching the former President his coffee.] Meltzer tells his story from multiple perspectives, Wes’s, principally, but also, for example, those of Nico Hadrian, the madman who shot Wes and Boyle, and “The Roman,” the dramatically named ringleader of the dramatically named group of conspirators–”The Three”–who used Nico

as their pawn. The book has some things going for it. The glimpse it provides into life in the White House inner circle is interesting. (Meltzer had access to former Presidents Bush and Clinton in preparing his manuscript, and credits his conversations with them for some of his favorite details in the book.) And Nico’s macabre drive across counattempt holds its own fascination.

On the negative side, Meltzer’s plot is confusing, and Wes and his cronies unravel the arcane clues they uncover a bit too quickly. And while Wes is a likeable enough character he is not so compelling that we invest our emotions in his story. Wes is defined largely by his attachment to Manning, who has, we are told, treated Wes like family, but readers aren’t given evidence of this special treatment from the President in the text, so it is difficult to credit. The book’s title has very little to do with the story, and Meltzer’s foray into Dan Brownish territoy–Freemasonry and cryptic symbols–isn’t necessary to the plot.

In the end The Book of Fate is decidedly…okay. If you’re looking for a page-turner you might want to grab the latest Ken Follett instead.

Tags: book reviews, books, Brad Meltzer, The Book of Fate