The Book of Fate

As expected with a Brad Meltzer novel, The Book of Fate is very complex filled with plot turns and conspiracies. It’s the sort of novel that you have to play close attention to. In this novel, Wes Holloway is an aide to President Leland Manningnow. An assassination attempt is made on the president. The chief of staff, Ron Boyle, is killed in this assassination attempt and Wes is badly injured and disfigured. The novel forwards to years later when Manningnow is no longer the president, but Wes is still working for him. He finds out that Boyle is not dead, and is alive in Malaysia. Let the conspiracies begin.

As with most Meltzer novels, this is a page turner. It’s very intriguing to the end. However, in this novel he really goes over the top with the conspiracies to the point where the believability aspects are stretched to the limits. The reveal at the end wasn’t what I was hoping for, and really hurt the buildup. It was an interesting read, certainly fun, but not overly satisfying.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street

Wes Holloway is a former presidential aide who survived an assassination attempt that left him horribly scarred and a fellow aide dead. For nearly ten years, Wes has carried the guilt that his mistake was responsible for putting his dead colleague, Ron Boyle, in the presidential limousine the day a madman named Nico tried to kill the president. When Wes accidentally discovers Boyle is actually alive, he becomes embroiled in a deadly race to discover the truth about the assassination attempt and the high level conspiracy behind it. The odds for survival build against Wes when Nico escapes from the prison asylum in which he's incarcerated and sets out to wreak God's vengeance on both him and Boyle.

With well more than 100 chapters, this is a long novel. Despite this, author Brad Meltzer manages to maintain the tension with each page. Twists and turns fall like raindrops as Wes closes in on the facts about the conspiracy until he discovers the final, unthinkably shocking truth.

In addition to being a thumb-sucking thriller, Meltzer's The Book of Fate is a detailed look at the inside workings of a presidential administration and its aftermath, and how the pull of power can twist and corrupt even those with the best intentions.

Audiobook not read by author

In this political thriller, the aide to the former President of the United States uncovers truths that had been hidden from the public. The CIA, FBI, and Secret Service all get involved in this mystery, and the President's aide is at the center of everything.

While all the books that I've read by him have been fun reads, this plot actually hung together better than the other two Meltzer books I've read ("The Millionaires" and "Zero Game").

The cover art for "The Book of Fate" is similar to the cover art for "The Book of Lies," so I'm assuming that the story continues in that book. With that being said, I felt like the resolution given in this book was satisfying, and tied up all of the loose ends.

However, there is a hint that the Freemasons were behind some of the actions taken in this book, and nothing really comes of that storyline. If I were to guess, I'd say that those issues will be addressed in "The Book of Lies."

First time reading Brad Meltzer, and have to say, surprised he's a bestselling author. For a "mystery thriller" this is really slow paced. Character development is lacking. Research is shoddy (come on, a Sig Sauer 9mm revolver? Do you know how many things are wrong with that description?). From a procedural perspective, it does give a thorough description of the day to day of our Nation's highest office, but that does nothing to further a rather dull story. Forgettable people, non-existent action, and sub-par writing.

I have a more favorable impression of The Book of Fate than some other reviewers at this site. I guess I was fortunate to have no expectation of the novel's nature: I ordered it after reading The Tenth Justice, believing Meltzer has some potential as a storyteller (an opinion I still hold). I didn't see the novel's cover before I bought it and didn't associate the title with the supernatural or with the myriad stories that have pretty much exhausted the Masons as a source of dramatic intrigue. Some of the negative reviews seem to be reviewing the title and the cover art more than the novel; since I formed no judgments about them before buying the book, the cover art and title have no bearing on my opinion of the novel.

I enjoyed the Book of Fate for what it is: fast-paced escapist fiction. The plot is a little shaky but it holds together at the end -- although it could use a bit up duct tape here and there to patch it up. (Fortunately, the Book of Fate does not need plot hole repair to the same degree as The Tenth Justice.) None of the characters are terribly original -- the crazed assassin is the stereotypical mother of all crazed assassins -- but the story speeds right along to an ending that is satisfying, if conventional. For me, at least, The Book of Fate worked, telling a fun, absorbing story that overcame enough of its failings to merit four stars.

Presidential Aides know all about scenes being set for the voting public and on this day, the arrival of the American President Leland Manning at a NASCAR meet has been orchestrated beautifully. The crowds are ready to applaud not only their President and his First Lady but also the current champion of the track who is naturally the first to pump the air outside of the limo. The car containing the President and his First Lady is THE one to be in, something aide Wes Holloway appreciates when he allows Chief of Staff Ron Boyle to jump in a the last minute for a quick word. When the assassin's bullets are flying through the air it's a young Wes Holloway who is left bleeding on the ground, his face ripped apart, as the attention of the Secret Service is taken up with protecting their political leader. It's not so much the long and painful recovery that eats away at Wes rather than the guilt at one snap decision ended the life of Ron Boyle.

This day turns the opinion of the voting public against Leland Manning so that his four year term in office is to be his only term. Thankful not to be dropped from the inner circle Wes provides Manning with another eight years of faithful service as the President in Office becomes Former President Manning, darling of the lecture and diplomatic circuit. Returning to a dressing room at a lecture in Malaysia, Wes literally runs into a man who doesn't want his face to be seen, or anyone to know he had been near the President at all. Slightly altered, and eight years older, Wes still recognizes the man as Ron Boyle.

THE BOOK OF FATE was one of those books you would suspect jumping on the old, dare we say it, CODE wagon. It contained all those hooks such as a secret code in presidential documents, the Freemasons etc, but they turned out to be just that, hooks, and didn't play a great role in the story. A fun read, largely forgotten a few days later, TBOF is one of those reads that entertain but don't challenge too much, and provide a little incentive to do some fun web searching after you've completed your read. The author thoughtfully provides appropriate URL's so you will have some dinner party conversation for the weekend.

Meltzer sets the stage very well and this novel would translate awfully well to the big screen. The multiple character perspective and scene changes are handled masterfully with chapter breaks and the like well timed for maximum dramatic impact. Wes Holloway, for a thriller hero, has been drawn with greater than the usual depth expected for the star of such a piece and thankfully, is not stereotypically portrayed. TBOF barrels merrily along to its conclusion with little appreciable slowing down of the pace. The complaint has been made by readers that this book is probably a hundred pages too long but this particular reader didn't feel that way; 500 pages isn't that much of a labored effort here.

The hackneyed paperback blurb would probably turn anyone off reading it: "In six minutes, one of would be dead. None of us knew it was coming". Well, ahem...!! Perhaps one of them may have tried to LEAVE if they knew they might indeed be killed in a few minutes. You have to swallow some of these meant-to-be attention grabbing lines along with the action but it's not laid on so thick as to be unpalatable. This is the book to be picked up if you want some fun and if you like a bit of political skullduggery included in your action thriller.

Eight years before the action of Brad Meltzer's The Book of Fate begins there had been an [...] attempt. President Leland Manning wasn't hurt, but a member of his staff, Ron Boyle, was killed, and Manning's aide, Wes Holloway, was shot in the face and permanently disfigured. The shooting stole more than Wes's face: he is haunted by guilt for having seated Boyle in the presidential limousine that day. And Wes, once sure he was destined for greater things, has stopped taking chances. Years after Manning lost the White House, Wes is still fetching the former President his coffee. But the cocoon Wes has built around himself is shattered during a trip to Malaysia. A chance encounter in the President's hotel forces Wes to confront his ghosts, and to figure out what really happened the day he and Boyle were shot. The conspiracy he ultimately uncovers reaches all the way to Manning's inner circle and tests Wes's loyalty to the former President, a man he has looked up to as a father figure.

Meltzer tells his story from multiple perspectives, Wes's, principally, but also, for example, those of Nico Hadrian, the madman who shot Wes and Boyle, and "The Roman," the dramatically named ringleader of the dramatically named group of conspirators--"The Three"--who used Nico as their pawn. The book has some things going for it. The glimpse it provides into life in the White House inner circle is interesting. (Meltzer had access to former Presidents Bush and Clinton in preparing his manuscript, and credits his conversations with them for some of his favorite details in the book.) And Nico's macabre drive across country holds its own fascination.

On the negative side, Meltzer's plot is confusing, and Wes and his cronies unravel the arcane clues they uncover a bit too quickly. And while Wes is a likeable enough character he is not so compelling that we invest our emotions in his story. Wes is defined largely by his attachment to Manning, who has, we are told, treated Wes like family, but readers aren't given evidence of this special treatment from the President in the text, so it is difficult to credit. The book's title has very little to do with the story, and Meltzer's foray into Dan Brownish territoy--Freemasonry and cryptic symbols--isn't necessary to the plot.

In the end The Book of Fate is decidedly...okay. If you're looking for a page-turner you might want to grab the latest Ken Follett instead

With five previous best-sellers to his credit and with Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code still very popular as a template for quasi-historical conspiracy tales, Brad Meltzer should have had no problem churning out a great story with his latest novel. Unfortunately, he blew everything he had going for him with a lame plot, unremarkable characters, and a so-called conspiracy that sheds no light whatsoever on the subject it claims to represent.

The story follows Wes Holloway, an aide to the former president of the United States, as he tries to uncover a mystery surrounding an eight-year-old assassination attempt on the president. Wes, who was horribly disfigured in the attack, has never forgiven himself for what he views as his role in getting another presidential aide into the limousine on that fateful day. When the shooting was over, Wes's face was scarred, but his friend Ron Boyle was dead.

When a photo of the president supposedly using a woman as a human shield reached the media, his political life was over. When he failed in his reelection bid, he kept Wes on his staff. Now, eight years later, Wes still works for the ex-president and still feels anguish whenever his thoughts turn to the day when his life was forever changed.

Wes's life changes again when he spots his supposedly dead friend at a publicity event in Malaysia. Freed from the guilt he's been suffering for the past eight years, he embarks on a mission to discover the truth about what happened. He teams up with a former colleague, his lawyer roommate, and a gossip-column reporter and begins uncovering clues and tracking down leads. Along the way, the group discovers a two-hundred-year-old code created by Thomas Jefferson and a governmental conspiracy linking the FBI, CIA, and the Secret Service. In an interesting but unfortunately brief segment totally unrelated to the rest of the story, they also discover some secrets about Masonic symbols built into the city plan of Washington, D.C.

Meltzer's writing is pretty good. The action scenes work well, and the clues all fit together for the most part. No loose ends are left at the end of the book. The main problem is that the story just isn't very interesting. The supposedly vast conspiracy isn't about a governmental group covering up nation-altering state secrets or the church hiding a centuries-old faith-destroying truth. It's simply three guys trying to swindle the U.S. government out of some cash. All the clues Wes and the gang work so hard to track down end up pointing to nothing more exciting than a government witness put into the Witness Protection program. Compelling it isn't.

The main thing that works well for the book is the dialog, which is fast-paced and funny in all the right places. Meltzer does a good job of getting inside Wes's head, showing the agony of a facial disfigurement and the angst of a personal betrayal. There's no sexual content, and foul language, while definitely present, is mercifully rare. The action scenes contain considerable violence, including some rather disgusting portrayals of bodily mutilation.

All in all, I found this book unremarkable and disappointing, especially considering what I've come to expect from Brad Meltzer. Hopefully with his next book he'll return to the areas where he excels--straight political and financial intrigue without the conspiracies, symbols, and code-breaking. That stuff is better left to Dan Brown, who can actually do it well.

This was the first book written by Brad Meltzer that I have read and I did not know what to expect. While I did not know what to expect, I did expect something a little more. The story is good and I was engaged throughout but that extra something that makes a book really good was missing.

There were a couple of things that bothered me in the book. First, "The Book of Fate" is really not existent in the story. Other than a couple of times when a psychopath recollects his mother saying observe the Book of Fate it is not part of the story line. The same is true regarding the Freemasons as a part of the story. It is implied in the cover that there is a Freemason component. However, other than a few small facts it is non-existent but warrants an author's comment chapter regarding Freemasonry at the end of the book. These are minor, but it makes you wonder what they are pushing with the cover and title. A final point is that it probably didn't need to be as long as it is and could have been tightened up a bit.

As there were a couple of bothersome aspects, there were a couple of things that were good. First, you like the good guys and you don't like the bad guys. A novel cannot get any more basic than that in making it work. The storyline built up and had a twist that you could make guesses at but not be sure of until exposed. Finally, the storyline was far enough to be outside the bounds of reality but not so far or inappropriate to make you think it defies belief.

Overall, a decent read but not a great read. It is something to read if you want a light read that basically kills time.

This was my first Meltzer book, and I am impressed by his writing. He doesn't fall into the many lazy traps that most thriller writers do. His characters are complex and they do believable things in a believable timeline. Also, the aches and pains from gunshot wounds and fist-fights last days instead of going away in the next chapter. I also like how the wimpy main character stayed that way throughout the book -- there was so miracle transformation of him becoming Rambo. On the downside, the crossword puzzle and Mason hook was barely a part of the story. The book could have survived fine and been better without mentioning those two things. In summary, this book was the opposite of a Dan Brown book in many ways.

The plot and characters were fine, but it still feels like something was missing or off. The conspiracy seemed straight-forward and simple, but Meltzer kept going into it so much that it made me think I misunderstood it. But all of these extra scenes and reveals led to the original conspiracy that was pretty much outlined midway through the book.

One weird thing about the book is that chapters with the main character, Wes, in them were written in first person, while the other chapters were written in the third person. I've never seen that before, and it was confusing. I know Meltzer did it so we could know what Wes was thinking. But he could've done that in the third person as well. This is a book, after all, not a movie.

This is the second Brad Meltzer book I have read. Bought this book after having enjoyed reading "Dead Even", my first Brad Meltzer novel. This book however is a total disappointment.
The book can be written in half the content, as much of the contents are dull and unnecessary. I nearly gave up reading the book when I was nearly half way through. I have even skipped through all the chapters about the psychotic assassins Nico especially talking to himself and his religious beliefs which is really a waste of time reading. I later decided to just scan through Chapters 60-90 quickly and get to the end of the novel but still able to understand the story.
Some of the content is not even accurate such as saying Malaysian PM also spoke in Cantonese. If Chinese dialect is being spoken by any Malaysian politician, it will only be in Mandarin as Malaysia unlike Hong Kong has not that many Cantonese Chinese. Most Chinese here are Hokkien speaking but will use the unifying Chinese dialect, Mandarin, for official purpose. I know that in the past, most Chinese in US also spoke Cantonese as they were migrants from Hong Kong.
I was planning to include Bred Melttzer as one of my favorites after reading his first book but this second book has changed my mind.

Disappointing, depending on your expectations.

As a whole, the story and characters themselves are, like many novels of this ilk today, right out of an episode of "Speed Racer". Same hero, same ambiguous romantic relationship, same monkey, same villains with the same dark X-Files-ish governmental omnipotence and treachery.

"The Book Of Fate" is a mixed effort at best. It seems pretty clear that the author had one idea for the book, but the DaVinci Code market momentum took over the presentation.

Forget about any meaningful or interesting presentation of a Masonic element. And ignore the nicely imaged cover. It is misleading. That element is (or least seems to have been the writers original intent), just a small detail throw in. It doesn't really have any meaning, and this book shouldn't have been marketed and presented as it is, as a Dan Brown clone.

The book might be worth reading if you read quite a lot; he is not a bad author at all. But this isn't the book you probably thought you were buying, and it certainly won't inspire casual readers to storm the bookstores looking for more of the same.

One last complaint. The author credits (brags) upfront about his time spent with former Pres. Bush and Clinton. That sets a nice expectation for the reader of juicy, and otherwise hidden from us (the Great Unwashed) details from behind the scenes.

Well...

...evidently, the author never really get anything interesting from these conversations, and nor do you as the reader. The only fact that I learned that I didn't know was about a small lock underneath the doorlatch on the President's Limo the Secret Service uses to unlock the doors from the outside... and that fact was completely inconsequential.

Not a waste of time to read, but not worth the price of a hardcover, and not particularly memorable in any case.

Unlike many other readers, I don't feel cheated by the title or the cover. A book should be rated on story, characters, and overall content, not superficial factors such as the cover.

What I liked: I enjoyed the story looking at the life of a former president, not a sitting one. That is a rare look in today's fiction. Nico, while no Lecter, was interesting enough as a psychotic killer. The concept of the Three is an intriguing one, although I thought the angle was underdeveloped.

What I didn't like: I did not like hearing Wes's story from the first person view. If the intent was to make him sympathetic, then it backfired. Instead, he comes accross as having entirely too much self-pity. Telling his story from a third person view may have worked better. Better yet, I think telling the story from Boyle's view would have even been better. The story was too long. Could have been done in 100 less pages. Finally, some of the secondary characters were more annoying than interesting.

I've never been a big fan of Meltzer's, but this book is no better or worse than his other efforts. It's definitely not top flight fiction, but neither does it deserve to be rated solely based on its title.

Barely readable, astonishingly empty, The Book of Fate is an example what happens when a popular commercial author becomes so entrenched as a recognizable name that the quality of his work no longer matters to the publisher. The marketing provided a hook in the hint of a Freemason link to the White House and a Presidential assasination attempt but the story itself doesn't deliver. You learn almost nothing about the Freemasons and even less about the life of a former President and his bodyman. The build up of a trio of bad guys is so overlysimplistic that it is almost comical. Even the locations speak of a writer who has so much leisure time that he only describes the fancy palm tree lined streets that he can see outside of his condo window.

Ultimately, blame for The Book of Fate needs to fall on the Publisher more than the writer. Instead of seeking out new talent or demanding meaningful text, they took the path of least resistance and left the consumers hanging high and dry.

This book actually has next to nothing to do with any Freemason conspiracy.

It is promoted as something akin to Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons", but in reality it turns out to not be like it at all. The heart of the conspiracy is actually within the US gov's intelligence beureaus who use the Freemasons as a scapegoat. Meltzer even admits to this cop-out at the end of the book by stating any group that had his uncle as a member couldn't be all bad!

For the record, I have nothing personal against the Masonic brotherhood, nor do I believe them to be an evil world-dominating organization. It's more that they are promoted as being central to this story, and they aren't at all, so I was ultimately disappointed.

If it was promoted as a government-oriented conspiracy I wouldn't have been disappointed. But the way the book is promoted leads you to believe that a secret societies conspiracy is involved and they aren't at all--except for reference to Washington DC being designed with the Mason square and compass in its blueprint, which is pretty much common knowledge.

What would be surprising to readers would be a new thriller about the highest levels of government that did not include dishonesty, self-dealing, and double-crossing. So this novel doesn't surprise. Mr. Meltzer tries hard to put some freshness into his book by dreaming up a deluded crazy assassin who was trained as a sniper because of his unusual skills, and adding interesting historical references in a couple of places. But the book doesn't stand out among the genre, mostly because several of the plot premises don't make a lot of sense.

Within a few pages, you find out that former wet-behind-the-ears presidential aide, Wes Holloway, had his face disfigured in an assassination attempt on the president, Leland Manning, during a re-election campaign stop at a NASCAR race event, where the president lost his best friend, Ron Boyle, in the shooting. Eight years later, Wes is still working for the former president and stumbles onto Boyle (whose face has been transformed by plastic surgery) backstage during a speaking event by Manning in Malaysia. Boyle bolts, and Wes is left with a lot of uncomfortable questions about what's going on. Surprisingly, Wes doesn't say a word to Manning, but begins to check into what's going on.

Wes's quiet investigation parallels a desperate search by two shadowy figures for Boyle, who follow Wes in hopes of locating Boyle that way. A third figure introduces us to the assassin, Nicholas (Nico) Hadrian, who has been fed a conspiracy theory about manipulation by the Masons to help satan. Before long, these four figures are on a collision course with Wes and the allies he brings to his investigation who include his former mentor, also former presidential aide; his roommate, a lawyer who specializes in speeding and parking tickets; and a Palm Beach gossip columnist.

Ultimately, the story is about who you can trust . . . and Wes learns that you cannot be too careful, as one person after another turns out to be a double-dealer of one sort or another.

The final action sequence is pretty entertaining, so you'll feel rewarded if you plow through to the end.

The book's key problem is that many of the plot aspects that could have provided good puzzles are revealed in the first 100 pages or so. That means you spend a lot of time following Wes as he unravels factors that you already understand. That slows the book down quite a bit over the pace it could have had.

If you are like me, you'll find the purpose behind the attack and its consequences to be a little hard to swallow.

First I would like to comment that the narrator of this audiobook was superb. The narrator can make or break your enjoyment of the story. Now that said...

The plot and characters of this book were sufficiently covered in the the store information as well as other reviews, so I won't rehash it here.

I will say however, there was a lot of anticipation that this involved a secret plot by the Masons, and it was in fact, not at all about the Masons. The only relation to the Masons was found when President Manning made some scribbles next to initials of White House staff and it turned out to be a secret code adopted from a code developed by Thomas Jefferson. That is where any relation what-so-ever to the Masons ends.

Also, the story was a little longer than it needed to be. I agree with another reviewer who said this was overwritten. Still... the plot was interesting enough to hold my attention to the end, which is truly the reason that I gave this book 4 stars instead of 3.

I first read Brad Meltzer with the book, Zero Game. The Zero Game was about the game that drew in characters. Fantastic book with proper heroes and heroines throughout the heavy part of the book. The beginning was slow and the murder of the first hero threw you, but it had a fabulous plot and fantastic ending.

The Book of Fate has absolutely nothing to do with Masons other than a so called secret map of the streets of DC. The book of fate is only about the psychotic assassin and what his mother told him as a child. You only hear the reference in the mumblings of a nut case. This story starts out hot and heavy. The plot is good until there are so many twists near the ending I wanted to scream, ENOUGH! There came a determination just to get to the end. The build up at the cemetery kept me in, and then... and then... and then..... Nothing! I wanted to find Meltzer's home and bop him on the head. It is a cruel trick to lead you to such a peak and then drop you into nothingness. Yet, that is what the author did. We have no idea what happened at that cemetary other than the nutcase shot and killed a first lady. We don't know what happened to the evil Roman, who rescued whom, nothing. The next thing you know you are having a painfully stupid meeting with the former president. After going through all that nothing and ready to explode at the author, the epilogue saved Meltzer. Elizabeth was in and out as a main character, but there she was. She took a bullet for Wes, was beaten and almost died, a plump unattractive gossip columnist that ends up having a love affair with the Extremely handsome but scarred hero. You go girl! Love the green Mustang.

A secret service agent,Wes Halloway, was shot in the face during what looked like an attempt to assassinate the president. Wes survived, but another agent, Boyle, was killed. Eight years later, Wes is still a secret service agent for the now former president and literally runs into a living agent Boyle. After years of blaming himself for the Boyle's death, Wes will do anything to unravel what really went on the day of the shooting, even if it endangers his life and others.

A well-written mystery, it was interesting watching the puzzles come together. Although I think the title is a little misleading; the Book of Fate is only mentioned about twice, and I thought there was going to be maybe a little something paranormal about the book. Turns out there is no real Book of Fate. It's just something a crazy person mentions. So I was a little bit of disappointed, but it was a somewhat entertaining book.

Here's my problem: I liked the plot. The situation was well thought out, the idea was good, and the twists actually caught me by surprise. But...

I really respect Meltzer's comic book (JLA/Identity Crisis) credits. But this book is written as if it was supposed to be a comic book. The emotion, the passion was missing from the scenes as if we were supposed to be seeing it in a more graphic form. Even during the most intense moments of the plot, I couldn't feel it.

And forget anything the cover blurb says about the Masons or old codes. These are what sold me on buying the book, and they are almost completely irrelevant to the story. The Masonic angle is used as a (very) narrow window into the mind of the obligatory psycho, and the "ancient" code is a nice little topping, but hardly used as a main plot point. It has imporatnce, but as a "two-hundred-year-old code", it's hardly a real selling point on the plot. Any code would have done if it could be solved by a third party. I actually feel decieved by the way they are suggested to be important in the cover blurb.

Again, the idea is quite good, and the plot is also quite good. But the execution just doesn't work for me. Not without pictures, at least.

The Book of Fate is a gripping political thriller surrounding a failed assassination on the president. Wes Holloway is a cocky, young Presidential aide whose life is changed forever when he is disfigured and another staff member killed in a failed attempt on the president's life. Eight years later, the supposedly dead staff member reappears, setting the events of the story in motion.

The plot moves quickly as Holloway struggles to untangle the events surrounding the assassination. Meltzer masterfully offers up a variety of red herrings, and keeps the reader guessing until the end. The book is short on shoot 'em up action, but events move at a steady clip and the mystery is intriguing enough to keep the reader engaged.

The character of Wes Holloway is different from most main characters in thrillers. When we first meet him, he's a smug, cocky young jerk. For the rest of the book, he's a neurotic, insecure underachiever who blames himself for the death of a member of the president's core group. He's wimpy and he knows it, and he's bright, but not a genius. This actually serves to make Wes an interesting character, and a true underdog. He's periodically annoying, but for the most part the reader finds himself rooting for Wes to regain his old swagger. Also, his lack of capabilities adds to the suspense. Will this unlikely character really outwit the bad guys and save the day?

The negative for me is the plot's lack of depth. The book jacket alludes to an ancient Masonic secret, and gives other hints that The Book of Fate will be an adventure along the lines of National Treasure. Unfortunately, aside from the delusions of a murderous psychopath, the mason angle is almost entirely unexplored, and plays a tiny, though important, role at the end of the story. I expected the story to be imbued with history and legend, but it comes across as an afterthought, and a minor one at that.

The Book of Fate is an enjoyable read for fans of political thrillers, but don't look for historical puzzles, codes or mysteries to be central to the plot. As long as you know what you're in for at the outset, it's a worthwhile read.

Mr. Meltzer tries hard but just can not close the literary deal with The Book of Fate. It was a bit too long and very lite in the drama department, not to mention the convoluted thesis. Character development was nil. Action sequences predictable. Maybe because early on I pictured Michael J. Fox as the protagonist Wes Holloway, I just could not get into the action. I just couldn't get "Back to the Future" out of my mind as I read about Wes' romp through the maze of Presidential intrigue and character interaction. The evil Nico was a sad sack of crazy voices and manic ideas that Prozac or electric shock therapy could surely help. The wicked 3 government agents were a caricature of what one things of the TSA. I mean where is Agent Smart when you need him. I know Mr. Meltzer has it him as he has demonstrated in the past he can pen a good story.

All in all a very lite read good for that interminable 12 hour trans-Pacific flight when sleeping is best. Best bet is to wait until this bloated saga comes out in paperback or better yet get it from the library for free. 3 stars because I finished it and liked the Masonic references and use of code puzzles; those were the best parts of the book. Otherwise, can't recommend.

A lame coattail rider of The DaVinci Code (itself no great shakes). The Masonic history and design trivia is one step from the babblings of a poor soul who wanders subway platforms, and has zero bearing on the plot. A confusing narrative style -- sometimes the protagonist is narrating, other times he isn't. Utterly implausible that the bonehead villains had the smarts to find their way out the front door each morning, let alone pull off the supposedly brilliant caper, or that POTUS couldn't shut it down. Toss away character references and plot "twists" that fizzle -- makes it read like a book that a bunch of high school kids in a creative writing class took turn writing when they should have been doing their homework. The naming of a Jewish character "Dreidel" was pretty stunning -- who came up with that one? Also odd that various blue collar workers are identified as the "African-American" such and such. Why? But the worst thing about the book is that I fear I saw seeds of a sequel in parts of the book. I stayed with this one because the United magazine was a dud this month (surprise) and the book had moments, but they were spaced faaaaar apart. By the time I realized it was not going to get any better, I was too far in to just drop the book. So if someone gives you this book or you find it on the train, what the heck, give it a chance, but don't expect very much. Under no conditions, however, should you pay regular price for this book.

Wes Holloway, an aide to the President of the United States, is shot and his face disfigured during an attempt on the President's life. But that's not the worst of it. Even more devastating is the death of Ron Boyle, one of the President's close friends and advisors. Shot through the chest by the deadly assassin, Boyle bleeds to death on the way to the hospital in the back of an ambulance normally reserved for the President himself. And Wes had put Boyle in the President's car, making him feel as though he were responsible for Boyle's death.

Fast forward eight years and we find President Manning now a former President because of that "fateful" day. A picture surfaced during the scuffle with Secret Service agents and the shooter that showed Leland Manning (the Prez) behind a woman. The photo looks as if Manning is hiding behind her, even though he wasn't, thus awarding him the public name of "the cowardly lion." Wes remains at his side but his life is eventually thrown into disarray by the presence of a man who sounds like ...like Boyle. Could he still be alive?

That is the basic gist of this extremely heavy tome. To go into further detail would risk putting book review readers to sleep ...which is what THE BOOK OF FATE will do for many. That readers may actually finish the book is more an act of determination than joy, as the story is so poorly put together that its very structure nearly defies description.

However, there is one word that fits it perfectly: overwritten. Checking in at over 500 pages (or 15 CDs for the unabridged audio version), the novel could've easily been cut in half, if not in a third. Most of the problems lay with overly-drawn descriptions or overly-dramatic prose. There are so many times in the book where Mr. Meltzer (author) starts in on an initially tense action scene, only to have it fall completely flat by describing every hair follicle on a character's arm, every chair in a room, every piece of paneling on a wall, and every crook in a person's finger. It boggles the mind that an editor didn't get his/her fingers into this forgettable story and cut it down just for the sake of saving a few trees!

This one is a definite bypass...

I've heard fantastic things about Brad Meltzer. This was the first book I've read of his, and he has a lot to answer for. I might try something earlier, since so many others have praised them, but I need to let this laborious excuse for a story fade from memory first.

I didn't have a problem with the general concept, in fact it's something that I find interesting. Dan Brown wasn't the first to do it, certainly won't be the last, and any comparison between other books of this type and his miss the point. Meltzer has Masons, Thomas Jefferson, historical secrets that can take down today's government, all excellent ingredients for a great story.

It's everything else I didn't like. There was no structure, no sense of purpose, no cohesion to the plot. In short, there was nothing but a whining ex-presidential aide who never did figure out what he was doing.

Wes is supposed to be the main character, who stumbled upon this huge secret. Yet all he can do is bemoan his fate ad nauseum. I felt for the guy in the beginning, it was horrible what happened to him. However, 1/4 of the way into it, I really needed him to shut up.

I'm still not sure what the point of the plot was, I must have skimmed over that word. Or maybe dosed.

Mr. Meltzer did not put his best foot forward with this book. Some things were stretched way beyond anything believable when it came to time and ability to accomplish tasks. In the beginning, I felt sorry for Wes but as time played out I was sick of his incessant whining about his disfiguring injury. The continued focus on his injury was almost an insult to Mr. Meltzer's readers, as though they would forget how this injury had "handicapped" or diminished Wes. I also found myself wishing that Mr. Meltzer had fleshed out some of the other characters a bit more so the reader could understand what was driving them to engage in certain behaviors. On its own, The Book of Fate was somewhat disappointing; however, as the precursor to The Inner Circle, it was helpful in establishing some background.

Meltzer's first book, 13th Juror, is a fantastic book. The dialogue, story, and the background information on clerking for the US Supreme Court made for a great read. Since then Meltzer has not been able to produce anything nearly so good. That's fine with me: I haven't produced one decent book, let alone four or five. Anyway, Meltzer opens up this book with a brief note about his research for the book. Cool with me: nothing better than a good story that I learn a little something from. But then, after the whole book is through, I'm not sure what he researched. Masons? Presidential libraries? Nothing really insightful on those topics.

The characters were ok. Wes, the main character, was a bit of a downer, but he had his reasons. The ultimate plot-twist I guessed from early on. I don't say that to brag, only to point out that if I can figure it out, and I'm usually the last one to figure anything out, then most others will not be at all surprised.

Hopefully Meltzer keeps plugging away at it and comes up with something to match his first. And maybe I'll WRITE my first.

I have read every one of Meltzer's books, including The Book of Fate, which I awaited with anticipation, and finally, eventually, and thankfully finished last night. I had a difficult time following the plot, because some parts didn't seem to fit in at all, and others moved like a snail stuck to a gummy worm. I still haven't "gotten" the purpose of the Masonic reference, and other than pointing to a curiousity in the layout of Washington, D.C., it contributed nothing to the plot whatsoever. Instead, it felt oddly like some kind of wierd commercial break that just popped up once in a while. In fact, I almost grew to resent the implication that the Masons were somehow evil, or at least diabolical, and that we should all somehow be shocked and dismayed at the laundry list of famous folks who were Masons. I hung on every word of each of Meltzer's other books--and barely hung on long enough to finish this one at all. I lost count of the number of times I found it necessary to back-track, re-read, and see where in the world the plot completely lost me. I have to say, I don't generally have this problem, so I don't think it was me. Better luck next time, Brad. I will probably read your next book, but I can't begin to tell you how much I'm hoping for one similar to your previous works. It takes a lot for a book to bore me enough to hurry up and wish it would end, but this one accomplished that handily.

Usually I enjoy any audiobook that Scott Brick narrates. He killed this one, I have to say.

I purchased "The Book of Fate" on the first day it was released in anticipation of a good story of the Freemasons. After starting this audiobook two times, I can't even get through CD #1 because of Scott Brick's slow, choppy, monotone narration. And, as the previous reviewer noted, the story is just too long. Could be more interesting if there were less of it! I have no desire to hang in there for 14 more CDs.

This one will go back on the shelf for awhile. Perhps it will peak my interest at another time.

Get it from the library and/or get the print version. I am sorry I rushed to purchased this one. Fortunately, I had a discount coupon and didn't pay full price!

Scott Brick gives us a superior reading of a decent but not superior book in the conspiracy genre. All in all, it does qualify as a thriller though one which undermines its impact by having too many plot lines which are not developed in such a manner as to earn applause when their linkage to the central dilemma is revealed.Too many times
a plot line is developed only to end up nowhere in terms of the center of action. More rigorous use of the editorial blue pencil would have helped.
Despite the author's failures, the book was entertaining and, overall,successful at creating a number of interesting characters and subplots. The reader's acting adds sufficient value to the book io make it easy to recommend as a good" listen".

Brad Meltzer has turned out an interesting piece of work in "The Book Of Fate". It's a page turner with a plot that has more holes than a sponge. The basic storyline has Wes Holloway, an assistant to Presidant Leland Manning, getting his cheek and mouth shredded as when a bullet richoets during an assination attempt. Another Presidential aide, Ron Boyle is killed in the shooting - a death for which Holloway holds himself responsible because he got Boyle a seat in the Presidential limo.

Fast forward eight years and the somewhat disfigured Wes Holloway is still an assistant to now former President Manning. At a speech delivered by Manning, Holloway encounters Ron Boyle who is not dead, but doesn't want to hang around to talk sports or anything else.

Now the mystery begins: how could Boyle be alive? Holloway was right there when he saw Boyle shot down in a stadium filled with 200,000 people and televised around the world. (It was at a NASCAR race.) Meltzer introduces - briefly as it turns out - a plot line involving the Masonic Order, secret codes, a hired psychopath and what is supposed to be a mysterious group called "The Three". Around this he spins a story of fabricated deaths, corruption in the federal government and a chase for the truth.

The plot, overall, is more or less ridiculous. The characters - many of whom appear way too conveniently - are paper thin and unbelievable. (Two of the characters bear a startling resemblance to Hillary Clinton and Rahm Emmanuel.) None of the main characters are likeable, which in a novel about politicians and government agencies may be a reflection of reality. Unbelievable coincidences abound.

But none of that detracts from the fact that Meltzer keeps the action moving forward. He's written a page turner with action on every page that propels the reader forward. All you have to do is basically ignore the flaws in the plot, which isn't all that difficult.

On the whole, the novel has the feel of being an outline for a television drama. Lucky for Meltzer, he can write great action scenes that essentially overcome his implausible plot.

A good, quick read for thriller fans who don't need a bullet-proof plot.

Jerry

Like many other reviewers I enjoyed parts of this novel and I found other parts to criticize. I won't rehash it here.

Suffice it to say that "The Book of Fate" was enjoyable for me, not because of the political intrigue and backstabbing, not because of the Da Vinci "mode" of chasing down answers before the clock runs out, but because of the characters.

The handling of Wes's and Nico's psychological well being (or not so well being) is what kept this fast-paced story fun for me. Both turned out to be unique characters with layers of baggage, all well explained, that kept the characters interesting.

Even the peripheral characters were well developed and developed well as I turned the pages. Dreidel, Rogo, Boyle, President Manning, and the First Lady -- all of them with clearly defined strengths and weaknesses that contribute significantly to the End Game.

And in the end, it's not a book about the Masons, but it is a book about Fate. And the ugly scars accumulated as fate comes to fruition.

Kudos to Mr. Meltzer.

I bought this book because I thought there would be Masonic stuff in it, secret codes, the usual Dan Brown stuff. Not much of that here.

Wasn't a total waste of time though.

Good points:

I didn't see some of the plot twists coming.

Meltzer, being a local, gets the local topography correct. Nice to see that attention to detail.

I like plus-size redheads.

I liked the combination of Wes' first-person point-of-view and the rest of the book being in the third person.

Lots of behind-the-scenes details.

Bad points:

Too much "Poor Wes" stuff. His friends are obnoxious. Nico requires too much suspension of disbelief. Lots of disconnected plot points, most noticably the alleged Masonic stuff.

Everyone says his earlier books are better. Will have to read those now, and imagine what this book could have been.

The book cover claims "two-century-old code and penetrate the secrets of Masonic history". But there really isn't but a smattering of that - and the story doesn't hinge on it at all. Mostly cloak and dagger - the reader knows more than the main character, so you know killers are closing in. The escape of the phychotic shooter (who made an assasination attempt on the president) seems contrived just for the climax of the story. The ending was a bit predicatable. The author did present a wounded hero who is struggling with his brush with death. The best friend character was comic relief in an otherwise serious story. It is a modest suspense novel - not epic but worth the read.

Reading this book was like listening to nails dragged across a chalkboard. It was so bad I cringed. Meltzer has created the wimpiest protagonist imaginable. You just want to punch this character in the face and scream, "Man up!" The plot itself is hardly "thrilling," but its banality is far surpassed by the grating dialogue -- complete with pointless character bickering, constant interruptions, and repeated statements of the obvious -- and enough adverbs and adjectives to make Mark Twain roll over in his grave. I can't believe how bad this book was. One star is being kind.

Scott Brick gives us a superior reading of a decent but not superior book in the conspiracy genre. All in all, it does qualify as a thriller though one which undermines its impact by having too many plot lines which are not developed in such a manner as to earn applause when their linkage to the central dilemma is revealed.Too many times
a plot line is developed only to end up nowhere in terms of the center of action. More rigorous use of the editorial blue pencil would have helped.
Despite the author's failures, the book was entertaining and, overall,successful at creating a number of interesting characters and subplots. The reader's acting adds sufficient value to the book io make it easy to recommend as a good" listen".

Brad Meltzer has turned out an interesting piece of work in "The Book Of Fate". It's a page turner with a plot that has more holes than a sponge. The basic storyline has Wes Holloway, an assistant to Presidant Leland Manning, getting his cheek and mouth shredded as when a bullet richoets during an assination attempt. Another Presidential aide, Ron Boyle is killed in the shooting - a death for which Holloway holds himself responsible because he got Boyle a seat in the Presidential limo.

Fast forward eight years and the somewhat disfigured Wes Holloway is still an assistant to now former President Manning. At a speech delivered by Manning, Holloway encounters Ron Boyle who is not dead, but doesn't want to hang around to talk sports or anything else.

Now the mystery begins: how could Boyle be alive? Holloway was right there when he saw Boyle shot down in a stadium filled with 200,000 people and televised around the world. (It was at a NASCAR race.) Meltzer introduces - briefly as it turns out - a plot line involving the Masonic Order, secret codes, a hired psychopath and what is supposed to be a mysterious group called "The Three". Around this he spins a story of fabricated deaths, corruption in the federal government and a chase for the truth.

The plot, overall, is more or less ridiculous. The characters - many of whom appear way too conveniently - are paper thin and unbelievable. (Two of the characters bear a startling resemblance to Hillary Clinton and Rahm Emmanuel.) None of the main characters are likeable, which in a novel about politicians and government agencies may be a reflection of reality. Unbelievable coincidences abound.

But none of that detracts from the fact that Meltzer keeps the action moving forward. He's written a page turner with action on every page that propels the reader forward. All you have to do is basically ignore the flaws in the plot, which isn't all that difficult.

On the whole, the novel has the feel of being an outline for a television drama. Lucky for Meltzer, he can write great action scenes that essentially overcome his implausible plot.

A good, quick read for thriller fans who don't need a bullet-proof plot.

Jerry

Like many other reviewers I enjoyed parts of this novel and I found other parts to criticize. I won't rehash it here.

Suffice it to say that "The Book of Fate" was enjoyable for me, not because of the political intrigue and backstabbing, not because of the Da Vinci "mode" of chasing down answers before the clock runs out, but because of the characters.

The handling of Wes's and Nico's psychological well being (or not so well being) is what kept this fast-paced story fun for me. Both turned out to be unique characters with layers of baggage, all well explained, that kept the characters interesting.

Even the peripheral characters were well developed and developed well as I turned the pages. Dreidel, Rogo, Boyle, President Manning, and the First Lady -- all of them with clearly defined strengths and weaknesses that contribute significantly to the End Game.

And in the end, it's not a book about the Masons, but it is a book about Fate. And the ugly scars accumulated as fate comes to fruition.

Kudos to Mr. Meltzer.

I bought this book because I thought there would be Masonic stuff in it, secret codes, the usual Dan Brown stuff. Not much of that here.

Wasn't a total waste of time though.

Good points:

I didn't see some of the plot twists coming.

Meltzer, being a local, gets the local topography correct. Nice to see that attention to detail.

I like plus-size redheads.

I liked the combination of Wes' first-person point-of-view and the rest of the book being in the third person.

Lots of behind-the-scenes details.

Bad points:

Too much "Poor Wes" stuff. His friends are obnoxious. Nico requires too much suspension of disbelief. Lots of disconnected plot points, most noticably the alleged Masonic stuff.

Everyone says his earlier books are better. Will have to read those now, and imagine what this book could have been.

The book cover claims "two-century-old code and penetrate the secrets of Masonic history". But there really isn't but a smattering of that - and the story doesn't hinge on it at all. Mostly cloak and dagger - the reader knows more than the main character, so you know killers are closing in. The escape of the phychotic shooter (who made an assasination attempt on the president) seems contrived just for the climax of the story. The ending was a bit predicatable. The author did present a wounded hero who is struggling with his brush with death. The best friend character was comic relief in an otherwise serious story. It is a modest suspense novel - not epic but worth the read.

Reading this book was like listening to nails dragged across a chalkboard. It was so bad I cringed. Meltzer has created the wimpiest protagonist imaginable. You just want to punch this character in the face and scream, "Man up!" The plot itself is hardly "thrilling," but its banality is far surpassed by the grating dialogue -- complete with pointless character bickering, constant interruptions, and repeated statements of the obvious -- and enough adverbs and adjectives to make Mark Twain roll over in his grave. I can't believe how bad this book was. One star is being kind.

The advertising, even the cover, for Book of Fate is misleading. This isn't a Da Vinci Code rip-off. There aren't cookie-cutter characters investigating strange symbols while getting into situations that are more absurd than the last! This isn't National Treasure (you know, that horrible movie with Nick Cage!). There aren't any investigations into the mysterious Masonic past of Washington DC or centuries old riddles hidden in government buildings.

That being said, should you read it?

Oh Yeah! What you really get is a taut thriller (but not so taut that's ridiculous or unbelievable) with great characters, action, and twists and turns. This is a book about getting past personal tragedy and moving on with our lives. This is a book about secrets and hidden motives and politics and all the good stuff that makes thrillers such a fun genre. Meltzer put all of his skills into creating a believable and exciting thriller full of actual heart. The characters live and breathe and aren't just flat like some author's characters (...cough... dan brown... cough). Meltzer is a deft novelist who dabs in the field of comic books with excellent results. He brings a little bit of his comic book writing skills here to, playing on archetypes to twist our perceptions on characters.

A very good book. A very good author. Just a very misleading marketing department.

This is based on the Unabridged audio book.

This book has little to do with the free masons. That is just one of many disappointments.

My second problem was the way the author dragged the story out. This would have made an OK story at two thirds the length. Much of the filler was spent over dramatizing the anguish of the main character. If I was actually reading the book I would have skimmed over those parts. That is hard with CDs. The reader added to the problem by over acting these parts.

The ending was preposterous. I suspect the author thought he was being creative by coming out of left field with the unveiling of the secret. The main reason I did not think of this option is because it made no sense.

From reading the back-of-the-book synopsis of Brad Meltzer's The Book of Fate, you might get the impression that it is a Da Vinci Code like novel with its references to Freemasons and old codes by Thomas Jefferson. Actually, it is nothing of the kind, but is instead a well-written yet routine political thriller.

The main character (and sometimes narrator) of The Book of Fate is Wes Holloway, who at the beginning of the novel is a gofer for the President. The world is Wes's oyster: he knows that this job will lead to bigger and better things. All this changes when an attempted assassination leaves Wes disfigured and the President politically damaged due to an act of cowardice during the attempt. Also, Ron Boyle, a deputy chief-of-staff is killed.

Or so Wes thinks until eight years later when he accidentally encounters Boyle. His life and career shattered by the attempt on the President's life, Wes has remained a dedicated employee of the former Chief Executive and has harbored guilt for his role in Boyle's apparent death. And though Wes tries to keep the whole encounter under wraps, it appears others know of Boyle's seeming resurrection too including the FBI and more sinisterly, a shadowy group called The Three, led by a man known as The Roman.

Boyle's appearance throws turmoil into Wes's life, made worse because he is not even sure if his boss can be trusted. With the help of a couple old friends and a reporter, he starts digging for the truth, which seems to be linked to an old crossword puzzle the president worked on, or more particularly, some notes next to the puzzle. Meanwhile, the assassin, locked away in a mental hospital, has broken free with The Roman's unwitting assistance and is now gunning for Wes.

How does the Freemasonry fit in? Not very well, as it is mostly part of the assassin's delusions; the relevance to the plot is minimal. In fact, if the story has a problem, it's that the conspiracies seem more complicated than needed. A good-but-not-great writer, Meltzer does keep things moving at a good enough clip that you don't notice the flaws. As stated before, if you are expecting The Da Vinci Code, The Book of Fate will probably be a letdown; on the other hand, if you just like suspense novels, this book will fit the bill satisfactorily: it is not great writing, but it will keep you entertained.

Meltzer takes the symbols and codes of the past and their meaning to show us how they can be twisted to justify a religious fanatic's murderous deeds. Manipulated by men in positions of government power, the assassin kills and manes the people he is told are evil and doing the work of the devil. Greed being the basis for this manipulation, the plot continues even after the assassin is caught.
Meltzer gives us an insightful story that seamlessly interjects historical facts with possible ill-gotten government deeds of the present. A very well written political thriller

I heard the author discussing this book on NPR and was fascinated by the premise. However, just as a cook may have all the necessary ingredients on the counter, if s/he doesn't mix them together properly and allow to simmer until just right, the meal can be ruined. This is what happened with Brad Meltzer's THE BOOK FATE. He had all the makings of an excellent thriller: inside details on the life of a former president, information on presidential libraries, facts about the inner workings of the CIA, FBI, and Secret Service, travel and intrigue, and some vaguely interesting though random information about Freemasonry. When he stirred it all together what he ended up with was a weak concoction lacking spice or salt and full of superfluous ingredients that didn't need to be there. The back cover of the book compares Meltzer to David Baldacci, Scott Turow, and John Grisham. These writers know what to do with the ingredients to turn out one fantastic dish of a book; Meltzer's BOOK OF FATE is a heavy, overstuffed souffle that refused to rise.

Shame on you Brad Meltzer. This is an UNFINISHED work that you allowed to be published. Cover to cover this is an AWFUL book. The plotline is steady enough, but seriously. You lead the reader down a number of interesting threads that NEVER go anywhere. The Masonic backdrop? You know the cover of the book? NEVER goes anywhere. Please at least do a droplet of research (see Freemasons for Dummies). Your main character...I was left really not liking the guy at all in the end.

BRAD MELTZER...do the right thing. Recast this book! It is far from finished. You have cheated your readers. A good start...but you are a year away from publication quality. Oh yes, and shame on you Warner books. i won't forget.