#cliff blake

Eephus

A group of university students hold a mock trial of the United States government to see if it abides by the constitution. But when real evidence of the government breaking the constitution is presented, the mock trial suddenly becomes very real. It sounds like a powerful and important, disruptive book, especially in a time like this. Unfortunately, it carries almost no punch, but is rather smoke and mirrors. While the characters were certainly interesting, they lacked secondary plots and real motives or backstories. No body acted in a surprising or challenging manner. The actions scenes were boring and confusing. The trial scenes would have been great, but they were too distant from the real world and therefore had no impact. One never stopped to think, "Wait, could this be true?". No similar names to real politicians, no stories that bare resemblance to real events. [I get why that would be difficult, but other political thrillers do it too. And without this connection to the real world, the impact of the novel falls short.] Not many details about the alleged deep collusion, backroom deals and the like were given anyway, which made the premise of the novel (various forces trying to shut the students up, them trying to publish their findings, Washington falling into chaos) seem like an overreaction. All of that - because of ... what exactly? We are never told. In addition to all those plot issues, the novel is confusingly formatted and badly edited, with many many spelling and grammar mistakes that are quite distracting.