The Bishop in the West Wing (Blackie Ryan Series) Book

Horrible. If it weren't for the book's brevity (250 pgs) & my obsessive need for completion, I wouldn't have made it past Page 100. Bishop Ryan's (Father Greeley's) smugness is loathsome almost from the start, & his nonchalance in the face of assassination attempts & a ubiquitous poltergeist is comical, but not compelling. His old friend is President Jack McGurn, a Ted Kennedy-esque figure so brilliant, noble, & beneficent he just can't help but get elected President, despite the fact he's not even trying. The book itself is merely a treatise supporting every liberal agendum since Civil Rights. There are a couple of adolescent love angles, & the central ghost mystery is as poorly developed as if this were the winner of a 6th grade fiction contest. The "detective" has no idea who is responsible, until the solution makes itself known at the moment of climax. The 2 McGurn daughters are a bit amusing, but the author's silly attempts at reproducing their 'extreme cool' lingo quickly turned these 2 into teen caricatures. Enough time spent on this bunk--skip it.