The Overton Window
Yes, I'm actually reading this. Stop laughing, Michelle......
It is well known the Glenn Beck did not write this. Mr. Beck said so himself. Although the idea "was all mine" he attributes the actual writing of the novel to three "contributors"; Kevin Balfe, Emily Bestler, and Jack Henderson. The last writer is already a published author and some critics have noticed that Beck's novel has a not-so-coincidental similarity to Henderson's Circumference of Darkness. Be that as it may, the trick for the book reviewer is how to review a book that is the stated author's ideas but not his actual printed words. My solution is to separate the writing and the ideas.
The writing...
You think that with all Beck's money he could have bought better writers. The first thing that shouts at you is an overwrought cartoon style of prose. Descriptions like "liberated chestnut curls framed a handsome face made twice as radiant by the mysteries surely waiting just behind those light green eyes" and a sexually charged moment that include the phrase "Don't tease the panther" (It works for me in those pick-up bars...not!) represent the highlight of literary prose in this book. Basically, it makes Dan Brown look like John LeCarre but mercifully not so excruciatingly painful as the Left Behind series.
The plot, what there is of it, isn't much better. A powerful group of goverment leaders and evil corporation types are planning to detonate a nuclear bomb and attribute it to well-meaning tea partiers and defenders of the constitution in order to create a world-wide Fascist government. Our hero Noah Gardner, the son of the main conspirator, discovers this and attempts to foil the plot. Not really. He's too busy being smitten by the beauty of Molly (the one who is teasing the panther) and being drugged up and waterboarded to really do anything. Frankly, nothing much happens. There is a murder in the first 10 ten pages of the book that is simply dropped. The rare action is all anti-climatic as is the ending. (Hint: watch for a sequel) The "plot" is simply a way to tie in a bunch of lectures that illustrates Beck's ideas. Even this was accomplished much better by Ayn Rand. So on with...
The ideas. Well, It's Glenn Beck. Yes, I've read Beck's non-fiction books and I would recommend them over this if you wish to get a sampling of where he is coming from. I'm not going to dissect his philosophy except to say he tends to an extreme libertarian viewpoint and is an expert as selecting facts out of history, and out of context, to support even the oddest conclusions like net neutrality is a plot to take away your freedom of speech.. The ideas expressed in The Overton Window seems a bit muddled at times. After all, we're talking about a plot to destroy the constitution that started with Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Since he throws in the ACLU, corporations that sell bottled water, and every world leader, "Them" seems to be rather all-inclusive. The bottom line is that Beck is preaching to the choir with this novel. It won't change anyone's mind. Beck fans will love it and Beck haters will hate it. Again, dubiously comparing it to Ayn Rands' novels of ideas like Atlas Shrugged, at least Rand makes you think. Beck lovers will nod their heads and say "See. I told you" while the rest of us place the book in the recycle bin and beg for another book by... well...anyone... even Dan Brown or Ayn Rand!
