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 An even-paced read loaded with twists and teeming with medical and political aspects. Mr. Jafffe has fresh ideas and sharp execution coupled with a little hilarity that makes this an enjoyable novel.
Reviewed by Brenda A. Snodgrass
Hobgoblins
by Jacob Jaffe
|Universe, Inc.
ISBN-10:0595384218, April 21, 2006, 284 pages
Frustrated by political obstacles to their goals of economic world domination, a group of unscrupulous, American industrial tycoons secretly finance a new political party, the American Freedom Party (AFP). They plan to use the AFP to subvert the constitution and further their monopolistic national and global agendas:
A conundrum of webs—clandestine and confusing—was being spun and I was ensnared in them. One misstep and the trap could be sprung. Yet I couldn’t think of how to escape.
What they fail to recognize is that John Gerard, their charismatic presidential candidate plans to double-cross them and like Hitler, become a dictator. These conspiratorial financiers create international economic and political crises that leave the democrats and republicans hopelessly ineffectual. With behind-the–scenes manipulations, AFP enables their candidate to resolve these crises and gain the support of the frightened citizens of the United States.
Only two people can thwart these plots. Dr. Martin Ritter a psychologist, who once created the psychopathic Gerard, (the future presidential candidate) and Solomon Weissman, an investigative journalist who gets too close to the truth and he comes up missing.
There are puzzling, humorous, asides where Dr. Ritter questions his own sanity, and battles with alcohol addiction, a Jewish fiancé, his father in the insane asylum, and a very real attempt to save the world from Gerard. For comic relief, Dr. Ritter tells all his woes and theories to a Buddha statue. (Another peculiarity for a doctor to engage himself with):
But I had periodic spasms of anxiety about my mental health. Were my hobgoblin hallucinations incipient forms of a mental illness?
An even-paced read loaded with twists and teeming with medical and political
aspects. Mr. Jafffe has fresh ideas and sharp execution coupled with a little hilarity that makes this an enjoyable novel.
About the reviewer: Brenda Snodgrass is an ordained and licensed minister, who along with her husband Mike, works with the homeless addicts near their church home in Dallas, Texas. Brenda is an avid reader and has a deep love for books. She recently transferred that love into book reviews.
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