The Candidate

by C.H. Cobb

It began as a blog. It became a political firestorm. It was never Henry Marshall’s intention to be a presidential candidate. He was a blogger, a plain-spoken conservative pundit critiquing the system from the outside, not a politician. Until the unthinkable happens and Marshall finds himself recruited as an independent in a competitive three-way race. When he begins receiving big endorsements and rising in the polls the carefully maintained status quo of Washington, D.C. is threatened. And there are some who are not going to let that happen . . .

468 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2016

About the author

C. H. Cobb has a non-stop imagination, identifying with James Thurber’s Walter Mitty. His career as a spinner of tall tales began by regaling his small children with the adventures of Moe, the spider that lived in the bathroom fan.

He now writes military/espionage novels, dystopian fictions, and political thrillers. Kirkus Reviews has compared his writing to that of Tom Clancy and Dale Brown.

His three children are now grown (and are all in some form of the arts, as are their spouses), and he lives with his wife Doris in Ohio where he serves as the counseling pastor of a church.

Reviews

[Read-n-Bloom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent read! I really liked the characters in The Candidate. Very interesting story about a fictional election here in the United States. It very much mirrored the election in US from 2016. Not with everything that was written of, but it did seem to be imitating it somewhat. Don’t let that scare you off though. I know how some feel about that election. 😬 It was an intriguing and excellent read though. I believe anyone who reads will enjoy it.

[Erik Snell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rounded my true rating of 3 and 1/2 stars up to 4 (since 3.5 wasn't an option here).
I received this book as a gift from the author to read and review. I just finished the book and can say I did enjoy reading it. The issues I found in my opinion (which I will outline some in a moment) didn't hurt my overall enjoyment of the read. I found the central plot point of a independent candidate making a run for our nation's highest office to be an intriguing storyline and much of the behind the scenes look into a political run was also eye opening. While I admit that one's personal politics could help sway a reader in one direction or another depending on how much they agree with the central character, I don't think that someone on the complete opposite end of the spectrum would have much difficultly still get caught up into the story's characters and ideas. This book was written with integrity does much more supporting than attacking. This is not a bash everyone else's political ideas book but instead a let's spend quality time looking at why this may be a good idea. Politics aside however this is still an engaging and very readable story. I flew through the book rather quickly and even surprised myself when I realized I knocked out 100 pages just while waiting for my car's oil to get changed. I do want to be fair with my assessment however and bring a couple issues to anyone's attention who is reading this review. The secondary "thriller" plot in some places got in the way of the main plot (the campaign) and also seemed to never fully enough impact the main character. It seemed in some places as well that it may have been rushed a little with more a feeling of it's supposed to be here but we won't spend any more time than we need to on it. Secondly there was a good deal of good setup for why the main character could become a strong independent candidate. I felt as reading though that perhaps the story skipping ahead a bit to too much to and now he is a strong candidate. I would have liked a little bit more thorough look at the how. I think the story that would have fallen between "why a candidate" and "is a candidate" could have been more developed and would have also even developed the main character even more. Not to mention it could be argued that that small piece is the part of the story the one hardest for a reader to imagine on their own.
In the end however like I said earlier I enjoyed reading this book. I was rooting for the main character and loved the background look into the politics. A good strong respectful case was made and a lot of effort and homework was noticeably put in to make this story feel as if it was written by a political insider very much aware of how politics work behind the scenes in the US.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just completed this book in a little over one week. Fun read and interesting premise--an independent candidate running for President on the platform of dismantling the federal government in keeping with the intentions of the Founding Fathers as set forth in the 10th Amendment and the Federalist Papers. I thought the story line was strongest when dealing with the political campaign and the platforms for each candidate, especially that of independent Henry Marshall.

The book was also pretty successful at trying to highlight the difficulty in maintaining one's integrity in the midst of our current political situation. I applaud the author's up front comments on his intentions for writing this book as he mirrors the integrity found in the protagonist in the story.

I gave the book four stars as I thought the dialogue interplay between the main characters was a bit too cute at times and that some of the secondary plot lines were a bit drawn out and unnecessary. Irregardless, the main message of the book, that of shrinking an overreached federal government and returning more power back into the hands of the States, caused me to return to our founding documents and rediscover the beauty of the checks and balances between the three branches of the federal government and of that between the federal and state governments. It also solidified the Founding Fathers Biblical understanding of the fallen nature of humans.

[John Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Cobb has written a fine political story replete with moments of charm and suspense; ‘The Candidate’ entertains the reader while it educates him or her on the intentions of the Founding Fathers of the United States with regard to state and federal governments. Compelling arguments for limiting the role of an engorged Federal bureaucracy abound throughout the narrative in favor of the tenth amendment and the individual states’ rights; the principal characters (with the exception of a few villains) are endearing, cooperative, models of Christian virtue. I appreciated the author’s sharing the kindle version of his book for free; it was well worth the time invested in it and I look forward to reading other books by this author.

[Caleb Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.7. This book was very good! I enjoyed how the author showed how the 10 Amendment has been dismissed by our Federal Government. My only complaint is that in a few sections of the book the author was a little repetitive.

I only wish there was an actual Henry Marshall I could vote for!