Power Blind: A Graham Gage Thriller

There's little to distinguish Gore's third Gage present-day political suspense novel (after 2010's Absolute Risk) from a slew of similar David Baldacci-like books, and the plotting is a step below his previous outing. Gage, a San Francisco%E2%80%93based PI, gets mixed up in what turns out to be the umpteenth conspiracy to influence the direction of the country by naming Supreme Court justices that would bear the imprint of the president. Republican William Duncan views his tenure in office as a failure, but hopes to rectify that by nominating two men who would enable the Court to control "the country for a hundred years after [he] was dead." His agenda may or may not coincide with the ambitions of California Senator Landon Meyer, who hopes to succeed Duncan in office, and doesn't scruple at deceiving him to do so. The writing is often clunky ("For confession would require Palmer to admit to himself who he was and what he'd been: a weapon in the hands of the wealthy and powerful employed to revictimize their victims, slashing through the fabric of their lives...") The thin characters%E2%80%94many will find engaging with Gage a challenge%E2%80%94are an additional minus. (Aug.)