Customer Reviews

The Book of Fate

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(42)
2 star:		(39)
1 star:		(47)

 

 

I've enjoyed Meltzer's work in the past, and I have to admit that the title grabbed me. Further, the blurb on the inside jacket really piqued my interest. This book sounded like a combination of "National Treasure" and "All the President's Men", with a hint of the supernatural thrown in for good measure. I quote from the inside book jacket: "The Book of Fate holds everyone's secrets. Especially the ones worth dying for. The Book of Fate. What does it say about you?"

Well, after reading this book, I don't have the foggiest notion what that blurb's supposed to mean. I don't even have any idea what the Book of Fate is.

This book turns out to be simply a political conspiracy book, a pale imitation of a Baldacci book, and nowhere near as good. I have absolutely no idea at all what the title refers to, there's no Jeffersonian or Masonic history in here worth mentioning, and whatever that blurb's talking about never takes place. Maybe the blurb and title were meant for some other book and got mixed up in the computer; who knows?

The plotting is pedestrian. The characters are unsympathetic; I didn't care one bit about any of them. The "conspiracy" was so contorted I couldn't even follow it. And didn't even care. This was a very clumsy book.

1.5 stars, and I'm being generous with that.

I have read all of Meltzers books and have to say that I am shocked at just how bad Book Of Fate is. Meltzer has a lot of talent. Its apparent if you read his earlier books. Sadly it is greatly mis-spent here.

The Book of Fate has so many holes it is difficult to point to them all. From Wes, the main characters disfiguring involvement in an assassination attempt on a future president to the "three", a group of law enforcement officers who pull off evil escapades far beyond belief.

The whole story is a house of cards. One damnably idiotic silly plot strain stacked upon another and bringing it to a point in the end that is almost laughable. I wonder if Meltzer sketched out the story before starting on this book, or if he just had some idea and it built momentum as he wrote. Either way, its a disaster. I cant think of an author actually penning out the ideas for this book and saying "hmmmmm, this is a good idea."

The worst thing is Meltzers use of the Da Vinci code phenomena. He plops in a few bits of cryptic gobley gook pertaining to Thomas Jefferson and the Masons, only it leads nowhere at all.

I would not recommend this book to anyone. I was totally looking forwards to reading it, and ended with thoughts of disgust.

I read Brad Meltzer's book "Zero Game" and loved it. I just finished "The Book of Fate" (easy read - quick to get through) and found that the title and masonry dropping left a lot to be desired.

In the author's notes on page 509 Brad said his information about freemasons are based on three years of research. If he said 30 minutes... I might believe it. There was little mention of fate or masons throughout the book. It almost seemed that Meltzer knew that a lot of freemason stuff is coming out with Dan Brown soon and wanted to jump on the bandwagon ahead of Dan. It feels like he wrote this book and then later came back and added a few freemasons things in to create more buzz.

Brad should stick with politics and interplay. He knows politics. He seemed way over his head trying to be the next Dan Brown. He should refrain from making profound statements about life - there is simply no gravity. He should write about things he knows about.

Saying that... was the book fun? Yes - but Brad should stop the pity angle with his main character... it was overplayed. Was the plot worth it? Not really. Too simple in a very complicated arena of intelligence (another area that Brad only seemed to understand just a little). Would I recommend "The Book of Fate"? Change the mason draw (since there isn't much at all about freemasons) and the title.. and then maybe just for fun. But definitely read "The Zero Game."

I'm always amazed at the disconnect between us nonprofessional book reviewers with our paid counterparts. Some of the early reviews of Meltzer's The Book of Fate are less than stellar. However, from the still very few reviews from real readers, The Book of Fate seems to have some redeeming value.

President Leland Manning and his entourage are attending the 4th of July NASCAR race. In the Presidential limo is Wes Holloway, a cocky, hotshot Presidential aide and center character of this story. Also in the limo is Ron Boyle, the President's oldest friend. Before they complete their visit, Ron Boyle is dead and Wes Holloway is disfigured.

Fast forward eight years. Wes is still working for the former President. On a junket to Malaysia Wes spots a man he takes for Ron Boyle, supposedly dead eight years earlier. It is this chance spotting that send Holloway on a fast paced and suspenseful adventure.

Meltzer who has such hits as Dead Even, The First Counsel, The Millionaires, may not quite hit one out of the park with The Book of Fate. However, it is a good read. Meltzer sprinkles enough suspense throughout the pages that he keeps you turning the pages. The story may be a little predictable in places but keep reading...it'll get better. The addition of secret codes and mysterious places adds to the atmosphere of the book. Masonic contrivance? You decide. I thought it worked.

I've just finished reading this book, and I'm sorry I bothered. Once I got about 1/2 way through, I really felt like I should put it down and move on, but the time already invested made me stick with it. A mistake.

The novel features an incredible level of detail, bulking up (bloating) the story far beyond a fairly conventional, straightforward plot. The heavily foreshadowed major twist will be easily predicted by many readers. I've read that the author had unprecedented access to former President Bush in researching the novel...the details from his research may have been more interesting as non-fiction.

Most of the characters start out two dimensional and stay that way...very little development. The main character is too unlikable to be a hero and too milquetoast to be an anti-hero. All of the characters are hard to care about.

The Masonic imagery and the references to Jefferson are plot gimmicks that take up all of about 10 of the nearly 600 pages. The whole "package" seems to be geared towards marketability: Psychotic killers sell, check; political thrillers sell, check; lawyers sell, check; secret codes sell, check; hidden history sells, check...

...overly long novel including all of these, uncheck. I am giving it one star because the writing is technically competent

Too many "what if's" in this book make it a lesser read. The author spends so much time spinning different scenarios, that by the time the mystery is actually solved, I didn't care anymore. I thought maybe it was just another "what if." The main character, Wes, is such a whimpy, low self-esteem character, that I had a hard time relating. (Okay, I know, he was shot and that would get me down, too, but MOVE ON ALREADY!) And the ending Epilogue section was just pointless and full of filler. I would not recommend this book for anyone looking for a "thinking man's" thriller.

This was written well and keeps you interested. However, it starts out like the Da Vinci Code and ends up like a simple story about theft.

We are never told what the "book of fate" is, if it actually exists, and if it did how it was used. The tie in with the masons is laughable.

Unfortunately I felt this book to be tedious and rather pretentious. I wanted to like it and kept hoping it would pick up momentum,but it really never did. It needed tightening up and the title truly is misleading. I was very disappointed.

First off, I'm a big Meltzer fan, but as many before me have stated;this is clearly his worst novel. I'm frankly shocked at how bad it is. It was as painful a read as I've ever experienced. I found myself having to skip over multiple pages just to find something of substance to keep my interest. Full of filler, annoying characters, and a long tedious storyline, the Book of Fate is a clear F grade when compared to other Meltzer works. If this is the standard that readers of future Meltzer novels can expect, then I consider myself a former reader rather than a current one.

For a book that starts with a note from the author about how he researched Freemasons for two years, you'd think there would be some indication of it. It has almost nothing to do with Freemasons, the plot is standard thriller fare sans any real shocking or surprising moments. The main characters is barely likable and mostly pathetic. The other problem I had with it was Brad Meltzer's writing style. In almost every paragraph, the narration will interrupt itself. For example, "He ran into the room and found...no...it can't be." After the billionth time, it gets really old. Also, the sheer amount of melodrama made me roll my eyes on more occasions than I could count. Do yourself a favor and read something else. This book is garbage.