"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, the irreverent conservative talk show host, has written a thriller that will appeal to his listeners and a much wider audience. It has all the hallmarks of an exciting and suspenseful novel that will top Amazon and other best seller lists.

Abuse of Power is written in a simple and direct style. The reader will hear Savage’s voice through his autobiographical main character, Jack Hatfield, and will also detect direct comments from the author without the filter of the character. The direct talk is usually annoying in a novel, but with Savage it is expected and pleases or irritates depending on the reader’s political point of view.

The pace is very fast with speed breaks for Savage to give colorful views of the San Francisco Bay Area. During the action, the reader visits Fisherman’s Wharf, the Legion of Honor, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge, the Richmond San Rafael Bridge, islands in the Bay, the Cow Palace, and the harbor in Sausalito. Some of the most exciting action takes place in London, but the focus of the story is terrorism in the “City by the Bay.”

A surprise for the reader is the sexual content of the novel. Savage is graphic but not in a clinical way that you might expect from a University of California, Berkeley Ph.D. in Nutritional Ethnomedicine. The sexual scenes are not gratuitous but rather add titillation to the tale of terrorism. The sex scenes keep the reader’s tension going from one violent action episode to the next.

Compared to his radio show, Michael pulls his punches a bit in the novel. There are balanced presentations of his favorite topics on the show, “borders, language, and culture.” For example, he is careful to point out that “militant” Muslims are the perpetrators of violence against humanity, and a vast majority of followers of the religion do not want to take over the world and kill infidels.

Many of the characters in the novel who emerge as leaders of good or evil are older males like Savage himself. The seasoned citizen male reader will identify with Jack and some of the other characters because of the favorable treatment of their intellect and physical prowess compared to younger characters. Also, the older Jack hooks up with a beautiful younger Muslim woman.

This is an entertaining thriller with hopeful themes counterbalancing the vicious, hateful stereotypical characters that are important to the story but small in numbers. It is also a pleasure to read positive accounts about the San Francisco Bay Area, my original home town. I give Abuse of Power my highest rating in the thriller genre. ( )