By Deirdre Parker Smith
dp1@salisburypost.com
Even the fiction in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge was politically charged.
“The Appeal,” John Grisham’s novel about corrupt elections, and “The Zero Game,” Brad Meltzer’s thriller about corruption in the Capitol, rang uncomfortably possible during this election year.
Catawba College’s Dr. Janice Fuller discussed the books amid a sea of election questions, pointing out that the plots in both lead to disturbing questions about how close fiction is to reality.
In the “The Zero Game,” congressional staffers place bets on the outcome of bills or voting margins or what earmarks make it through. But it quickly turns from a game into murder.
Fuller was amazed by the scenes of staffers discussing what earmarks they will even bother to show their congressmen or women. “It seems like the good of the people is not always the priority,” she said.
It’s the good of the CEO that matters in Grisham’s latest. A huge chemical company dumps toxic waste in small-town Mississippi, literally killing its residents. When a hard-working lawyer couple wins a huge settlement for a woman who lost her husband and son, the chemical company’s CEO sets out to reverse the verdict and destroy all the people involved.
The solution: Pick an unknown, convince him to run for state Supreme Court and spend millions to destroy the moderate, experienced incumbent.
When the newly-elected judge’s son suffers permanent damage from an illegal baseball bat, the question hangs heavy: Will he vote against big business to help the injured, or will he be embarrassed to turn back on his campaign promises?
The answer is not pretty.
Fuller could easily see parallels to the current election ó the judicial candidate is carefully groomed for his role ó as is vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
The CEO manipulates the stock market so he can buy back company stock at a loss and then make a profit when the verdict is overturned.
These two thrillers share some of the same characteristics ó as do all thrillers, Fuller explained, laying out the basics of the genre.
– A thriller must have criminal activity that is immoral and damaging to someone. Check.
– The orderly world must be interrupted in an incredible way, so that readers will wonder if there ever was any order.
– Thrillers must have physical action or dangerous situations. The assassin is a terrifying, violent character in “The Zero Game” who is relentless. “The Appeal” has dangerous financial action that leads to dire situations for the good guys.
– Evil should be found where we most expect to find good. The friendly lobbyist in “The Zero Game” is totally corrupt and willing to sacrifice anyone to get what he wants. In “The Appeal,” Grisham shows that justice is not just blind, but deaf, dumb and stupid.
– There should be a mystery about the source of evil in a thriller, Fuller said, which Meltzer demonstrates in his fast-paced scenes underground. “The Appeal” makes you wonder if any political movement has morals.
– The books should have a hero who can do almost anything. When the first hero dies in “The Zero Game,” the second battles to save the country from a deadly experiment. Grisham presents his good-hearted lawyers sacrificing everything to pursue what’s right.
– Fuller said the hero should be against class repression and for justice. In this case, “The Appeal” is a textbook illustration. “The Zero Game” which starts out very white and very male, introduces a young black woman with a strong desire to succeed.
– Thrillers can be positive or negative. It’s easy to label “The Appeal” negative, with the injured and the brave lawyers left with nothing and the greedy CEO thinking he’d like to have even more money.
“The Zero Game” could go either way. Will the main characters recover from the shock of their discovery? Will their exposure of the plot stop anything like that from happening again?
While these books were quick reads, their topicality fit the theme of “Prose and Politics” well. Sometimes fiction is too much like truth.