Book No. 47 of 2021
Thrillers and political dramas are typically not my jam but…Stacey Abrams! As can be expected, I had a really hard time putting this book down, and only a morning appointment kept me from staying up all night to read this.
The writing style is more what I call “functional” writing, typical of the the romance, YA, and thriller genres, more so than the finely wrought prose I’m used to from my typical reads. (Not a knock on the book, just a personal thing I had to acclimate to.) It’s very clear that Abrams knows what she’s talking about, re: government and politics—with multiple agencies and branches of government involved, the vagaries of Supreme Court protocol, and fleshed-out scenarios involving recess appointments, it has big political nerd energy. (This facet is not remotely surprising.)
The slightly intimidating aspect of the book is the way Abrams casually weaves genetic science and high-level chess into the story, sprinkled with references to French philosophy; she clearly contains multitudes, and next to her I feel very simple.
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I described this book to several people as “Dan Brown, but smarter.” (Like I said, I don’t read a lot of thrillers so Dan Brown is really my main point of reference.)