DIGEST READ
The Brethren by John Grisham
(Century, £16.99), digested in the style of the original
Fri 18 Feb ‘00 03.09 GMT
Finn Yarber, Hatlee Beech and Joe Roy Spicer are ex-judges, AKA the Brethren, now incarcerated in prison. The Brethren while away their sentences making a quiet fortune through blackmail. "They were, after all, convicted felons, and if they could quietly pick up some cash on the outside then everyone would be happy." Their trick is to put an ad in the lonely hearts column of gay mag Out and About. "Ricky" and "Percy" write to secretly gay - and wealthy - older businessmen, preferably married with children, as this makes extracting cash from them a lot easier...$100,000 a pop.
In the big outside world, the CIA have discovered one Natli Chenkov, hardline Russian communist and according to Teddy Maynard, head of the CIA, "the most dangerous man in the world". Maynard explains: "If we are unprepared, then we could well have a war. If we are strong, we avoid a war. Right now the Pentagon could not do what it did in the Gulf war in 1991."
But Maynard's plan is to field a presidential candidate with one aim - not lowering taxes, cutting the crime rate or unemployment. Instead the candidate must promise to double the defence budget. Aaron Lake is the answer to Maynard's prayers - he's a congressman with "dark blue eyes, square chin, really nice teeth". He is intelligent, but more importantly, his past is clean and Maynard knows he is electable. Lake thinks the idea is "wonderful" and starts choosing his vice-president. Maynard guarantees the campaign money and declares: "By the time November gets here, the American voters will be so terrified of Armageddon they won't care how much you've spent. It'll be a landslide."
Then the American embassy in Cairo is bombed, killing 80 people, including the ambassador and his wife. Lake makes speeches about compassion to the nation, but is as tough as hell about the defence budget. His popularity escalates.
But Maynard discovers that Lake unfortunately has a secret - he is gay and he has written to "Ricky". Maynard must prevent a scandal (he's had quite enough dealing with Clinton). Trevor, the Brethren's lawyer, is paid $2m to keep quiet about the secret, but he flees. Maynard "seethes". "His agency had toppled governments and killed kings, yet he was constantly surprised at how little things got botched." Trevor is shot. The Brethren are then also paid $2m each and released from jail on condition that they stay out of the US for at least two years.
Scare over, Maynard advises Lake to get married to better his image. Jayne Cordell, his closest adviser, "needs to drop 15 pounds" but "she'd make a fine First Lady". Lake wins a landslide victory in the presidential election. The CIA discover that the Brethren are still up to their old tricks, practising extortion in Europe: "You gotta keep busy," concludes Finn Yarber.
And if you really are pressed - The digested read, digested:A Russian communist threatens America. America elects a president who organises bombings around the world. He is blackmailed because he is gay, but then marries his assistant. It all works out fine in the end, though, and America lives happily ever after.
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