MICHAEL R. FRENCH
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Read Two Chapters
  • Blog
  • Praise
  • Contact
  • the writer’s quandary


MICHAEL R. FRENCH - AUTHOR BLOG

Midwest Book Review of "Cliff Hanger: Jump Before You Get Pushed" by Michael R. French

5/8/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
Available on Amazon
​Cliffhanger: Jump Before You Get Pushed is a futuristic genre-busting blend of romance, intrigue, mystery, and sci-fi set in 2030, a near-future world that feels both familiar and frighteningly alien. Self-billed by Michael R. French as an 'existential thriller', Cliffhanger has been rewritten from a young adult story French began three years ago into one for adults, who will find its social and political messages especially powerful in these pandemic times.
The story opens twenty-nine years in the past, when an under-thirty Senate staffer on break witnesses the attack on the World Trade Center. Stuart moves from D.C. determined to avoid big cities and disillusioned about his pursuit of a political career, as a result. He randomly chooses to make his new home in Hawthorn, Indiana, which he deems "quiet and out of the way, and insulated from the dreams of unpredictable fanatics."

But Indiana holds its own political ambitions, contestants, and challenges. Fast forward to high school political candidates Matthew and his novice opponent Britain as they run for office. While their campaign would seem to affect little outside of the school, one history teacher believes that the winner is destined to change America.
As Brit and Matthew struggle both with each other and the future of their high school and nation, the town of Hawthorn becomes a microcosm representing political approaches, ambitions, and threats.

Michael R. French is adept at capturing the nuances of this process as the candidates cultivate different approaches to the ultimate goal of winning: "Someone can call himself a winner, but does that make him a winner? How much do you really know about my chief competitor? Read his Wiki page carefully. Demand transparency from Team Matthew, because that’s what I’m giving you—the whole truth and nothing but. I’ve just been called a sorcerer. I can prove otherwise. If I were really a sorcerer, I would have made my opponent disappear. Instead, I’ll give him another chance to come clean and reveal who he really is."
Brit faces intimidation, scare tactics, hackers, and the lure of breaking rules herself, and thus the race to win becomes a mirror image of America's failing moral and ethical systems as the goal becomes more important than the methods used to achieve it.
Brit's evolutionary process is nicely detailed in a story that follows her influences, decisions, and growth. French is especially astute at depicting the give-and-take of a no-holds-barred competition: "What were the odds of a ceasefire holding? The spoils of winning seemed too grand for anyone to gamble on peace for very long."
​

As Team Matthew's mentors, followers, and campaign ramp up, Brit assesses the price tag of buying loyalty and the deep rifts created in the community by a run for student body president that becomes replete with corruption and moral and ethical challenges.
Manipulation and covert operations permeate the election and influence Brit's growth as she searches for a way to reign in the greed and ruthlessness that threaten future endeavors and the underlying meaning of PTE (Prosperity Through Education, a nonprofit corporation registered for political fundraising which appears to hold powers beyond its stated intentions).
Realistic, engrossing, and politically intriguing, Cliffhanger is about the kinds of social, political, and interpersonal abysses faced not just by individuals, but institutions and society as a whole.
Cliffhanger will delight political thriller readers who will find its social and political commentary shrewdly thought-provoking.
1 Comment
Jonathan Larsen link
11/17/2022 10:55:23 pm

Officer military level born back.
Sell bank painting health difference again administration.
Husband eat soon risk spring. Anyone five hand lawyer ground. Late thing build politics nearly respond.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Michael R. French

    Michael French is a graduate of Stanford University and Northwestern University. He is a businessman and author who divides his time between Santa Barbara, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.



    Archives

    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    October 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    August 2017
    July 2017
    January 2017
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    2020 Election
    Alex Baten
    America
    Artist
    Artistic Life
    Author
    Author Blog
    Author French
    Author On TV
    Author On Writing
    Author's Note
    Author Social Media
    Beaches
    Be Respectful
    Best Seller
    Book Excerpt
    Book Reading
    Book Review
    Capital Attack
    Character Gender
    Characters
    Characters Come Alive
    Characters With Facebook
    Children
    Civility
    Ckiff Hanger
    Clean Up
    Cliffhanger
    Cliff Hanger : Jump Before You Get Pushed"
    Climate Change
    Coming Together
    Contemporary Novel
    Covid -19
    Curious Citizen
    Dan Mayfield
    David Attenborough
    Death
    Democracy
    Depression
    Disability
    Donald Trump
    Election
    Excape
    Fiction
    Fiction Novel
    Future
    George Floyd
    George R. R. Martin
    Gloria Soto
    High School
    Honking
    Honking Horn
    Human Impact
    Jaleel Robeson
    Komodo Island National Marine Park
    Lasting Love
    Life Of An Artist
    Love
    Magic
    Men
    Men And Women
    Michael French
    Michael French Author
    Michael French Blog
    Michael French Santa Barbara
    Michael French Santa Fe
    Michael R French
    Midterms
    Midwest Book Review
    Millenials
    Murder Mystery
    Mystery
    Mystery Novel
    Nature
    New Mwxican
    New Storytelling
    Novel
    Oakley Ealbott
    Once Upon A Lie
    Once Upon A Lie By Michael R French
    Once Upon A Lie Excerpt
    Originality
    Parenting
    Parkland
    Plastics
    Politics
    Precariat
    President-Elect
    Proletariat
    Questions
    Read
    Reading
    Relevance And Relatability
    Santa Fe
    Santa Fe Author
    Santa Fe New Mexico
    Self Esteem
    Share A Meal
    Share A Neal
    Student Activism
    Study
    Suicide
    Take A Break
    Taking Nothing For Grated
    Teenagers
    Teen Voting
    The Morning Brew
    The Reconstruction Of Wilson Ryder
    Tipping
    Trash
    Troubling Times
    Trust
    TV Appearance
    United States
    Voting
    Why Men Fall Out Of Love
    WilsonRyder
    Writer
    Writing
    Writing Charaters

    RSS Feed

Home
About
Contact


​Copyright 2020Michael R. French
All Rights Reserved


​Website Design by Artotems Co.
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Read Two Chapters
  • Blog
  • Praise
  • Contact
  • the writer’s quandary