The Price of Liberty

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Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Severn House Publishers (July 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0727868721
ISBN-13: 978-0727868725
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.4 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Both personal and occupational problems beset Red Rock, Wyo., construction worker Jack McEnroe in this solid political thriller from Graff (One Nation, Under God). Jack's wife, Kyla, who's left him and taken their two young children with her, is now working for, and romantically involved with, his boss, Dave Fetters. A bar fight with Dave's spoiled, greedy son, Shane, jeopardizes Jack's job with Dave's construction company. Meanwhile, Halcyon Corporation, which won a no-bid contract to build Camp Liberty, a massive federal prison for terrorists, has subcontracted with Dave's company for much of the work. When Kyla uncovers ongoing fraud, she turns to Jack for help. Shane's clumsy but deadly attempts at damage control fuel carnage and cause Scott Starr, Halcyon's executive v-p, to order his own people to restore order. Graff's cynical take on government waste and corporate greed plays well. McEnroe is as rugged as the desolate country he lives in, and his gritty do-what-ya-gotta-do actions keep the pages turning easily. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Editor’s note: It is Booklist policy that a book written or edited by a staff editor receive a brief descriptive announcement rather than a full review.Graff concludes his post-9/11 trilogy featuring ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances. Jack McEnroe is a Wyoming construction worker whose latest gig finds him building a prison intended to give terrorists their own home on the range. There’s lots of federal money behind the project, and that means lots of graft. My Fellow Americans (2007) and One Nation, Under God (2008) took their serious themes seriously, offering thought-provoking takes on what happens when world politics play out on a local stage. That theme is central to The Price of Liberty as well, but the tone is different: decidedly less somber, thanks to an infusion of very black humor. We’re talking gory stuff here, verging at times on a kind of macabre slapstick, played out mainly by a bad guy, Shane Fetters, who’s half psycho, half doofus, the kind of character readers of Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard know very well. --Bill Ott The Price of Liberty