OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Watergate Amendment" by John Fitzgerald.]
Official Review: Watergate Amendment, by John Fitzgerald

The book Watergate Amendment is a historical fantasia, bringing a House of Cards sensibility to the Nixon presidency. It opens with a prologue familiar to all students of American history: Nixon’s resignation from the presidency. It then segues into a scene at an asylum, where a kindly priest receives an unusual confession from one of the inmates, which turns out to be a narrative that could turn a good chunk of modern American history on its head.

The central character of Watergate Amendment is Jude Thaddeus, a manipulative chess-player of a political fixer, who is working for the Rockefellers as part of a plan to make Nelson Rockefeller the President of the United States. From that point forward, everyone who is familiar with American presidential history from LBJ to Ford knows the basic outline of the story. However, Fitzgerald’s conceit of inserting the fictional Jude as a master manipulator, a kind of a dark and devilishly clever Forrest Gump, adds a new twist to familiar storylines. Fitzgerald gives a new identity to Deep Throat, and this is book provides a sympathetic portrayal of Nixon .

One shortcoming of the book is the fact that the backstory of Jude could stand to be fleshed out a little more. It would help to find out a bit more about how Jude became the man he is, along with some more flashbacks showing how he learned how to be manipulative.

Furthermore, there are always some qualms that arise from making historical characters do things that they didn’t in real life. After all, Nixon was accused of many things, but philandering wasn’t one of them, and one wonders what the Rockefeller family might think of Nelson being at the head of a plan to take over the presidency. I worry for Fitzgerald, for though deceased historical figures are fair game for fiction writers, Henry Kissinger and Bob Woodward are still alive, and they might not take a warm view towards how they are portrayed in this story.

The other main plot is the general lack of suspense. If we know our history, then we know how everything will work out, and we know that the book isn’t going to deviate from the general outline of history. Throughout the first ninety-eight percent of the story, everything goes easy for Jude– there are no sticky situations that require special finesse to escape, no equally clever figures to undo Jude’s plans. We know that the ultimate plan will fail, but we don’t know why, and the ultimate reason why is a bit of a letdown.

All these complaints, however, disguise the fact that this is a delightfully entertaining read. Even as we follow well-known events, Fitgerald’s narrative makes them fresh and fun. I would give this book three and a half stars if half-stars were allowed, but since they are not…

I give this book three out of four stars.

***
Buy "Watergate Amendment" on Amazon
Buy "Watergate Amendment" on Barnes and Noble

Excellent review. However, making historical characters do things they didn’t do in real life is not necessarily bad; Shakespeare did it often.

Thank you! Your comment is true enough, but some of the things said about Woodward and Bernstein, who are still alive, might border on libel. It's perfectly legal to write about dead people in fiction, but there's a real legal can of worms when live people are used in stories.