Abuse of Power

July 18, 2011
Conservative radio host Savage, the author of Trickle Up Poverty and other nonfiction bestsellers, makes his fiction debut with a thriller sure to score a bull's-eye with its target audience, the followers of his talk program, Savage Nation. Jack Hatfield, a freelance TV producer who lost his top-rated opinion show, Truth Tellers, thanks to a liberal media smear campaign, is filming a piece on the San Francisco PD's bomb squad when a call comes in about a bomb found at the site of an auto accident. The mayor and the FBI play down a possible Arab link, and an unlikely informer puts the blame on a homegrown fringe group. Smelling a coverup, the patriotic journalist single-mindedly pursues the truth as far as Israel, Paris, and London. Meanwhile, Imam Zuabi and his Hand of Allah agents prepare a major terrorist attack. Savage pulls off some neat twists as Hatfield and a handful of amateurs fight to prevent a disaster that certain officials choose to ignore or abet.

November 28, 2011
Aimed directly at fans of his conservative talk radio show and many nonfiction books, Savage’s debut novel follows Jack Hatfield, a journalist forced from his popular radio show by a smear campaign set in motion by a powerful liberal media baron. Freelancing, Hatfield decides to investigate a car bombing in San Francisco; it appears the terrorist’s ethnicity is being covered up. His quest takes him to Tel Aviv, London, Paris, and back to California, where a terrorist cell called the Hand of Allah is plotting a West Coast 9/11. All of the elements necessary for a thriller are present—including a beautiful Yemeni secret agent and assorted venal U.S. power brokers—but Peter Larkin largely narrates with a flat, almost uninterested delivery. Larkin does handle the book’s many international accents well, and his efforts bring to life sections of dramatic dialogue and moments of heightened tension. But most of the book is read with an objectivity much too cool for the genre. When narrating a thriller, one can be a little too conservative. A St. Martin’s Press hardcover.

Jack Hatfield, a TV host and reporter shunned for stating his opinion of Muslims, covers a bombing in San Francisco. He smells a cover-up and goes on a global hunt for the truth. Narrator Peter Larkin expertly morphs into countless voices: Jack's friends range from a crusty pal to a savvy, quick-witted woman and a young computer programmer. Villains and supporting characters are as diverse as you will find in fiction: various men from the Middle East, a Southern senator, a British agent, powerful captors, and terrified victims. Those who don't mind their espionage filled with a strong dose of the author's conservative politics will enjoy the story's pace and twists. Character development is well done, and Larkin's narration is superb as he digs into a bottomless trove of accents. M.B. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

March 1, 2012

Best-selling author and popular talk-show host Savage offers the listener a taut political thriller. Wrongly disgraced journalist Jack Hatfield happens upon a story during a routine ride-along that turns into a globe-trotting adventure to prevent a terrorist attack bigger than September 11. While it starts slow, the plot progresses quite nicely. VERDICT While Savage is a bit heavy on political insight, he still delivers a good story. Peter Larkin's narration adds to the enjoyment, with accurate accents and pacing. [The St. Martin's hc, published in September, was a New York Times best seller; the pb, also by St. Martin's, will publish in May 2012.--Ed.]--Scott R. DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.

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