O'Brien's engaging first novel--a BOMC alternate in cloth--focuses on potential first lady Kate Goodspeed, who must contend with explosive secrets as her husband campaigns for the presidency.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In her first novel O'Brien, a Washington, D.C. journalist and former press secretary in Michael Dukakis's presidential campaign, offers an insider's look at a candidate running for president. She reaches for the story behind the story, however, focusing on the candidate's wife, Kate Goodspeed. The grueling campaign dissects Kate and her family, exposing raw individuals who react and relate to each other in new, and disturbing, ways; Kate questions whether she and her husband still share the same dream. She recognizes that the casualties of her husband's campaign may be her daughter, her son, and her marriage, as old well-hidden secrets threaten to leak out and new ones emerge. Her confrontations with new and old demons takes her into self-analysis that is intimately detailed though lacking a final punch that would make her an authentic heroine; her personal reemergence is a disappointing anticlimax. Though the dialog is strained by overuse of jargon, this is nevertheless both readable and timely, particularly with the approach of the 1992 presidential election. BOMC alternate.
- M.J. Hethcoat, San Francisco
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
