Saint's Rest [Paperback]

Thomas Gifford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 1997

In the peaceful countryside of the midwest a conspiracy has been born, its leaders among the most respected names in America. They believe their cause is just: to save the nation from leaders too timid to make the tough decisions. Their goal is the White House, and their principle weapon is so preposterous that no one would believe it exists.



Ben Driskill, Wall Street attorney and longtime buddy of President Charles Bonner, gets the first hint of the conspiracy when he finds his mentor Drew Summerhayes shot, an apparent suicide, at his Shelter Island home.



Summerhayes himself is so closely linked to the White House that the avid rumors about his death taint President Bonner, battling a re-election challenge from within his won party. Not trusting those closest to him, Bonner asks Ben Driskill to investigate quietly.



Then there are two more killings, this time on the bluffs above the Mississippi, at a serene little town in Iowa called Saints Rest. And before long Ben Driskill is trying to save more than Charlie Bonner's presidency. He's trying to save the future of free elections in the United States.



As in Thomas Gifford's New York Times bestseller, The Assassini, Ben Driskill is the quintessential ordinary man moved to extraordinary measures--too stubborn and too angry to see the odds against him.


From the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Is Gifford, one of the most robust and intelligent thriller writers of the past two decades, running out of ideas? Counting this new novel, two of his last three books have recycled elements from his earlier works. The First Sacrifice (1994) was a sequel to his debut, The Wind Chill Factor, while here he brings back Ben Driskill, hero of his last major bestseller, The Assassini (1990). Despite generating substantial tension, moreover, this near-future yarn is driven by a turgid political conspiracy: a group of right-wingers seeks to remove President Charles Bonner after he threatens to dismantle the intelligence agencies that supposedly run the country from behind the scenes. The action starts with the mysterious death of Drew Summerhays, an elderly, prominent friend of the President. For advice, Bonner turns to Driskill, a lawyer with Summerhays's firm, who is quickly drawn into the murder investigation. Evidence points to the small town of Saints Rest, Iowa, where Driskill connects the murder to two other killings, indicating a conspiracy to sabotage Bonner's reelection campaign. Peeling away layers of duplicity, Driskill finally reveals the man he thinks is behind the plot, but another death takes that suspect off the hook and leads to a dramatic finale on the floor of the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Gifford keeps the action moving through hard-driving narration, but the excitement of the climax is undermined by his tendency to magnify each minor revelation as if political Armageddon were imminent. Equally dismaying is the lack of inventiveness in his post-Watergate tricks, save for a doomsday weapon that can replicate a natural disaster with the push of a button. As usual, Gifford tells a compelling tale, but in this one he's writing below his peak.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Ben Driskill, hero of the author's best-selling The Assassini (Bantam, 1990), returns to fight a threat to the U.S. president.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Crimeline (August 4, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553762699
• ISBN-13: 978-0553762693
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,220,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A grat book that gets better with multiple readings, February 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Saint's Rest (Hardcover)

Thomas Gifford's Saints Rest is a perfect example of how, sometimes, you've got to read a book more than once to understand it. When I first read the book, I have to say that I more or less agreed with the reviewer from Florissant, MO who didn't believe the characters or the story. But when I read it a second time, I found that Saints Rest was a brilliant study of American politics, and the lengths people will go to in order to gain, keep, or reclaim power.

Truth be told, there are some glitches of fact in the story. Though Gifford has clearly done a lot of research about the presidency and campaigns, he doesn't seem to have given a great deal of attention to certain other details, like the military. Also, I felt that he could have gone into greater detail about the Heartland Corporation's satellites, especially Earth Shaker.

But Gifford's strengths are also on display as well. The central characters -- Ben Driskill, Bob Hazlitt, General Taylor and President Charles Bonner -- are never less than completely believable. The conspiracy plot is plausible, if you accept both the immense power and resources of the conspirators and the fact that this novel is clearly set in the near future. And Gifford creates a magically real atmosphere; I felt as though I could have just as easily been watching these events on CNN or MSNBC, or reading about them in my local paper.

In summary, Saints Rest is a magnificent epic of power, politics, ambition and corruption, one that I highly recommend. Read it again -- it holds up even better every time.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not up to par, October 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Saint's Rest (Paperback)

I have read several of Gifford's books and this is the first one that I didn't enjoy. I am being kind by giving 2 stars. The plot was completely unbelievable. Gifford's other books Wind Chill, Assassini, Praetorian, have some feeling of historical context. Not one of the characters is this book was convincing. Marines in uniform at a political convention! Come on. In the forward the author talks about doing research at the White House. Ok, he may have accurately described the oval office. I really was looking forward to reading this book because of the others that I have read and was disappointed. I had just enough interest in it to finish it. Don't waste your time if you were going to read it based on his previous work.

Gifford needs to stick with Nazis not Washington Pseudo-Thrillers

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dancing thru Washington politics, July 13, 2000

By 

Kathryn L. Pugh "vayankee" (Roanoke, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Saint's Rest (Hardcover)

While the author dances his way and guides the reader through the maze of national politics, he does have a bit of trouble with the music...or at least recognizing the musician. The musician, Mr. Gifford, is Johnny Mercer ... not Jimmy. People in Savannah are proud of their 'native son'. Rightly so. The book itself is a good companion to have on a lazy wet day. It's one to spend a few hours with while curled up in a favorite chair or under a shady elm in the late afternoon. A word of warning though. Do not take this book to bed with you. You may have trouble putting it down and getting some sleep. Your boss won't appreciate you napping at your desk the next day. If you must read this at bedtime, make sure you don't have to get up early the next morning. You might not make it.