The Race

Sen. Corey Grace is the most charismatic and compassionate conservative Republican to ever run for president. He believes in women's choice, gay rights, gun control and stem cell research. Ordinarily, these would be suicidal platform points, but the other two candidates—a bombastic but honorable hard-line evangelist and a loutish Senate majority leader who is backed by a Machiavellian media giant—stand a good chance of splitting the far right vote. Patterson is best-known for his thrillers, but The Race is long on lore and shy on suspense. It's also filled with all-too-familiar political events and characters that are almost parodies of people living or dead. Grace has several well-written speeches that Michael Boatman delivers with the wise and wry voice of reason. Boatman also captures the dramatic baritone of the evangelist; the smarmy and nasal senator; and the evil media baron who sounds a bit Australian. Boatman does a fair job of imitating the voices of real-life characters but saves his best mimicry for a rancorous radio pundit whom Patterson has given a fictional name. Simultaneous release with the Holt hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 27). (Nov.)