Amazon Review
Veteran bestselling author Leon Uris (Exodus, Trinity) stays true to form with A God in Ruins, delivering yet another vast and vigorous novel about politics and history, right and wrong, love and loss. This time his country of choice is the United States, on the eve of the 2008 presidential election.
The incumbent, Thornton Tomtree, is running against the Catholic governor of Colorado, Quinn Patrick O'Connell. Thornton, who grew up playing in his daddy's Providence junkyard, made billions on a computer invention before becoming president. Brainy, calculating, and stiff, he lacks both charm and scruples--qualities that the honest and open Quinn, an ex-Marine, has in spades. Though set in 2008, A God in Ruins has its roots firmly in the past. In order to flesh out his characters, Uris casts his net all the way back to World War II, highlighting some of the more dramatic moments in Thornton and Quinn's lives as they move inexorably from youth towards a run for the White House. In the process, Uris takes up some of the attention-grabbing political issues in America from the second half of the 20th century: gun control, terrorist attacks, and Clinton's sex scandals.
Uris can always be counted on to inject the political with the personal, and Quinn is the perfect vehicle for this when his presidential bid is threatened at the eleventh hour by potentially damning information about his past. A lively supporting cast of characters--from Quinn's delicious wife Rita to Thornton's conflicted right-hand man Darnell--adds spark to this emotional story. At one point, when the campaign has reached a fever pitch, Thornton says about Quinn, "Our jingle-jangle rope-a-dope cowboy is going to be a handful." So is Uris's engaging book, which positively spills over with simple heroism and hot-button political issues. --Katherine Anderson
Product Description
From the author of Redemption and Trinity comes another sweeping and awe-inspiring novel of politics, family, passion and intrigue. Spanning the decades from World War II to the 2008 Presidential campaign, A God in Ruins is the unforgettable story of Quinn Patrick O'Connell, an honest, principled and courageous man on the brink of becoming the second Irish Catholic President of the United States. In an era morally unmoored, rife with armed separatists and fundamentalist zealotry, Quinn emerges as America's hope to reclaim its great past and its promises of the future. But Quinn is a man with an explosive secret that can shatter his political ambitions and threaten his life -- a secret buried for over half a century that even he does not know! Master storyteller and international bestselling author of Redemption, Trinity and Exodus, Leon Uris once again brilliantly interweaves historical fact with gripping fiction in this powerful novel of politics, family, intrigue, love and the passions that rule human lives.
