There’s over the top, and then there’s bat crap crazy. . . Gleason’s latest is the latter of the two.
Real estate tycoon J. T. Tower, an obvious stand-in caricature-type for Donald Trump, is painted as the buffoon in office who manages to rise to power and take the White House, thanks in part to. . . wait for it. . . ties to Russia. Yup, Tower’s relationship with Mikhail Ivanovich Putilov, the Russian president, helped him obtain the highest office in all the land, even though he secretly hates the man.
Conservatives need not worry, as Gleason also hits the left as well, often taking the most extreme approach to any issue presented in what tries to be a timely thriller, but isn’t.
The U.N. is trying to pass an anti-inequality resolution that will have serious ramifications for Putilov and the world’s other billionaires — especially those who grew their empire from dirty and shady practices. People around the world want that money seized and redistributed, something the Russian president will never let happen, even if it means destroying the United Nations. . . especially if it means destroying the United Nations.
So, a plan is hatched between the leaders of the United States and Russia, as well as a powerful Saudi ambassador, to stop the world-wide confiscation of money that’s set to be used to ensure income equality for all. Billionaires unite, hellbent on maintaining their grip on the world’s economy, and it seems nobody can stop them except for an unlikely trio made up of a ball-busting journalist whose entire career seems to be built around bashing Tower and his political base, a former CIA operative, and her boyfriend, an ex-special forces commando turned billionaire entrepreneur.
If this band of misfit, Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-wannabes can’t thwart the evil plan to end the U.N., the world as those inside Gleason’s universe know it will be over.
Silly, extreme, and full of WTF moments, Robert Gleason’s The Evil That Men Do should only be read as political satire. . . and even then, it’s a stretch.
Book Details
Author: Robert Gleason
Pages: 432 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0765338130
Publisher: Forge Books
Release Date: May 4, 2018
Book Spy Rating: 4.5/10
Praised as “one of today’s finest book reviewers” by New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds, Ryan Steck (“The Godfather of the thriller genre” — Ben Coes) has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). He currently lives in Southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children.