Saint's Rest

Thomas Gifford's Saints Rest is a perfect example of how, sometimes, you've got to read a book more than once to understand it. When I first read the book, I have to say that I more or less agreed with the reviewer from Florissant, MO who didn't believe the characters or the story. But when I read it a second time, I found that Saints Rest was a brilliant study of American politics, and the lengths people will go to in order to gain, keep, or reclaim power. Truth be told, there are some glitches of fact in the story. Though Gifford has clearly done a lot of research about the presidency and campaigns, he doesn't seem to have given a great deal of attention to certain other details, like the military. Also, I felt that he could have gone into greater detail about the Heartland Corporation's satellites, especially Earth Shaker.But Gifford's strengths are also on display as well. The central characters -- Ben Driskill, Bob Hazlitt, General Taylor and President Charles Bonner -- are never less than completely believable. The conspiracy plot is plausible, if you accept both the immense power and resources of the conspirators and the fact that this novel is clearly set in the near future. And Gifford creates a magically real atmosphere; I felt as though I could have just as easily been watching these events on CNN or MSNBC, or reading about them in my local paper.In summary, Saints Rest is a magnificent epic of power, politics, ambition and corruption, one that I highly recommend. Read it again -- it holds up even better every time.