Hudson Valley Bookshelf

Knowledge or Death
by Cindy A. Reid

Review of The Librarian by Larry Beinhart. Nation Books, an imprint of Avalon Publishing group, trade paperback. $15.95

The Librarian is the new novel from the Woodstock-based author of American Hero (filmed as Wag the Dog). It revisits the topic of election year dirty tricks. The librarian, David Goldberg, is briefly in the employ of an aging billionaire who hires Goldberg to catalogue his papers for posterity. This alarms the campaign of the incumbent President, because they think Goldberg has learned a secret that would change the outcome of the upcoming election, and after a hilarious scene with Homeland Security, Goldberg is running for his life. Since he has no idea what it is they think he knows, the rest of the novel is a race between learning the secret and getting shot. Knowledge or Death—pretty apt for a librarian.

In the course of the story Beinhart takes wickedly accurate shots a politicians, their handlers and the media. "The reporters ask exactly the questions the candidates expect them to and the replies come back cooked and canned. The more this becomes true, the more the reporters act as if their part in the docudrama is riveting, vital and urgent." After this election season, it's hard to argue with that statement.

The President and the all powerful "Gray Man" may remind you of a certain politician from Texas and his vice president, and depending on your political orientation you will either laugh out loud or throw the book across the room. But there are secrets within the big secret and you will be entertained by the deft skewing of the entire political cast of characters, blue and red alike.

From campaign gurus to Idaho mountain men, everyone takes a well-deserved hit.

The Librarian is a swift, frightening and funny read. If only it wasn't so true, it would be even funnier.