cover image The Power

The Power

Howard E. Goldfluss, Howard Goldfluss. Dutton Books, $17.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-1-55611-087-0

In this sequel to The Judgment, New York gubernatorial candidate Jon Klyk and his running mate for lieutenant governor, the lovely, socially prominent Loren Sturdivant, are addressing a large audience of labor activists when a crazed accountant dashes into the gathering and shoots Loren in the shoulder. Privately, Loren takes satisfaction in more than just escaping with a minor injury: hungry for all the power she can grab, she counts her scar a PR asset as she cynically schemes her way into the top echelons of government. Former New York State Supreme Court Justice Goldfluss has such a jaundiced view of nearly all politicians that this novel about a would-be American Eva Peron spills over with venom and features a superfluity of unlikely political machinations. Among the unsavory events he describes: a wealthy power broker booting an Assembly minority leader so his son can win a freshman term; a legislator beating a rap as an industrial pollutor but ""deservedly'' dying from a victim's bullet; a New York governor battling a rigged impeachment meant to advance Loren's power; and AIDS, like the Red Death, sweeping away the vainly power hungry and the reform-minded alike. (May)