Protect and Defend by Richard North Patterson

A subplot is the political struggle to have a new chief justice confirmed. Her family are vigorously antiabortion under any circumstance Her father is a brilliant law professor and he is pitted against her in the courtroom as the legal representative of the unborn child. A normal birth has been deemed impossible and she worries that a Caesarian, as often happens, will prevent her being able to have children later. The issue is abortion, specifically fifteen year- ld Mary Anne Tierney’s struggle to abort late-term a severely hydrocephalic, brainless, and otherwise deformed and defective fetus. Protect and Defend has been described by one reviewer as the most accurate portrayal of the Washington political scene. If this work is characteristic, Patterson writes very literate mystery/thriller novels that take a public issue and dissect it from multiple viewpoints. But it will cause you to think about them in depth. Will it change your opinion on issues? Maybe or maybe not. Those points aside, this is a book worth reading. The f word is peppered throughout and I admit to not always understanding exactly how the American political system works. But then I also had to pick it back up again. Sometimes the description of events are graphic and I had to put the book down for a book. One reason it was not a quick read is it is a hefty book and the issues need to be carefully considered. I found this a riveting though not a quick read. And it is not only the guilty who suffer and pay the price. They show people of principle and also those who will use whatever means at their disposal, even if it has disastrous consequences to undermine another person. The characters are complex and well-drawn. This story highlights the way politicians and their families lives are delved into, to expose their deepest secrets, regardless of the hurt to any concerned.

Each of these three have dangerous secrets in their past. Into the mix add the newly appointed president Kerry Kilcannon and his candidate for Chief Justice, Caroline Masters plus senators from the opposing political party and particularly Senator Chad Palmer. The situation ends up as a court battle, with Mary Ann and her lawyer Sarah against Mary Ann’s parents. Opposing her desire for this are her parents, who are outspoken advocates against abortion under any circumstances. For reasons that become clear as the book moves forward, Mary Ann wants a partial birth abortion. The main characters are Mary Ann Tierney who is fifteen and pregnant.

This novel takes an issue which people usually have very definite views about and turns it into a highly readable story.

Protect and Defend by Richard North Patterson