Michael Savage (1) (1942–)

"Abuse of Power" reminding me a little of some of writer Joel C. Rosenberg's books, which have been categorized by some as Christian Sunday School discussions disguised as political thrillers. These books tend to be filled with God, Liberty, and the American way, which is the literary equivalent of some of the great old John Wayne films. That can work for any book, however I felt this plot and story line sometimes required leaps of faith to make it all very believable.

Many, I'm sure will enjoy it, but I thought about it as yet just another book written in the past few years about murderous fanatical radical Muslims dedicated to bringing down the United States. Some of those books feature a Navy Seal, Intelligence Officer, or Special Ops warrior as the hero. This book, on the other hand, features a politically conservative ex-talk show host, something not too dissimilar to Michael Savage himself, as the hero. Add in the beautiful heroine / love interest, and the small minded bureaucrat heading up the FBI, and you've got the key elements of this book.

So in some ways, the book is something akin to some of the Tom Clancy or Vince Flynn novels in content, but not quite as gripping or believable. Also, I felt that the frequent contrasting of political conservative values (representing the good) and political liberal values (representing the bad) as important to Savage's story line as his story itself. It seemed somewhat self serving and a distraction to the build-up of tension in the writing. Additionally, the inclusion of the biblical quotes seemed distracting from what otherwise was intended to be a terrorist thriller.

Sometimes you finish reading a book and you relish the time you invested, and other times after completing a book, you realize that had you done something else with your time, you wouldn't have missed anything. This book falls into that latter category.


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Michael Savage is a conservative news commentator. He lives with Teddy, his poodle and several other dogs. With photographer Vincent Remini, he has published Teddy & me : confessions of a service human, an incredible look into the life of a very pampered poodle in story and photos.

Teddy goes everywhere with Savage, even to restaurants and to work. He is a most discriminating dog, helping to care for his fellow dogs, who are clearly owned as Teddy is not. Savage also talks about previous dogs he's known and even has a chapter on judging people by how they threat dogs.

A joy to read and a book to treasure for all animal lovers.… (more)