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In EMPIRE OF LIES, Andrew Klavan uses his novel to espouse his views on the media, celebrity, religion, and the Left's blindness to terrorism and its dangers. Therein lies the problem for readers: If the reader is conservative, these issues pose little problem for the plotline; if a reader has more mainstream views, however, it's likely that these harangues sprinkled throughout the story will be a fatal distraction to enjoying this thriller. The story opens when Jason Harrow, a devoted family man and strong Christian, at home in the Midwest, receives a phone call that propels him back into his past. An old girlfriend is calling, imploring him to help her find her missing daughter. Jason returns to New York to assist her, although he keeps this a secret from his wife, telling her only that he is going to clean up his mother's house following her death so that it can be sold. This lie is but the first of many that haunt the book. Once Harrow arrives in New York and reconnects with his old girlfriend, we learn that Jason's past is filled with sadomasochistic sex and the worry that he has inherited his mother's mental illness, both secrets he is afraid might be revealed. He also learns that his friend's daughter is in fact his own child and that she is mixed up with unsavory characters who are players in a plot to bomb a New York event. They have also committed a murder, which the daughter witnessed. With this complex plotline, readers may wonder how Klavan has any time to inject his own conservative agenda. In short, Klavan sacrifices the depth of character development for his villains to spend time rambling on about how the media is destroying America and the celebrity culture is abetting its downfall. Is it any surprise that the main terrorist is a renowned liberal professor at a major university? He is assisted by small time punks who also seem unlikely terrorists. Most unlikely of all, however, is that the all-American hero doesn't take any of this to the police when he learns of the murder from his daughter. Instead he takes his case to a has-been celebrity who's been arrested for drunkenness and then eventually metes out justice on his own terms (while never being held accountable). If this all sounds a bit belief-defying, it is. Readers who hold similar views to author Andrew Klavan may enjoy seeing these elements embedded into a contemporary thriller, but for mainstream readers, there are too many gaping holes and too much right-wing doctrine being highlighted to allow them really o dig in and enjoy the action. When the main terrorist disappears, and Jason Harrow goes back to the loving arms of his family without any repercussions, the final lie has been told.
Reviewed by Christine Zibas, July 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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