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The Election
Some time soon, Queen Elizabeth II narrowly escapes a suicide bombing and abdicates in favour of Prince Charles. Following his coronation, a referendum is called in Australia and the pro-republications succeed -- attention turns to the election of the country's first president.
Australian-born Michael Takada, whose father is Japanese, wins selection for Queensland and represents his State in the presidential election. But there are many who, for racially motivated reasons, are intent on preventing him reaching public office -- including the Western Australian candidate, David Shawcross.
When Takada and Shawcross become the main contenders for the presidency, Takada is targeted by a fanatical but disorganised right-wing organisation and later, by a small but sophisticated white supremacist terrorist group. He suffers racist taunts, hate mail, his son's kidnapping, bombings, the attempted murder of his father and his wife and the murders of close friends. As the election nears, his political aspirations are soured by the uncovering by a young reporter of an atrocity committed by his grandfather on the Kokoda Track in 1942.
Shawcoss is an equally popular candidate but is tormented from within, his racist views, hard drinking and womanising almost costing him his political career.
Despite the demons they encounter along the way, Takada and Shawcross are equally determined to be the country's first president.
Australian-born Michael Takada, whose father is Japanese, wins selection for Queensland and represents his State in the presidential election. But there are many who, for racially motivated reasons, are intent on preventing him reaching public office -- including the Western Australian candidate, David Shawcross.
When Takada and Shawcross become the main contenders for the presidency, Takada is targeted by a fanatical but disorganised right-wing organisation and later, by a small but sophisticated white supremacist terrorist group. He suffers racist taunts, hate mail, his son's kidnapping, bombings, the attempted murder of his father and his wife and the murders of close friends. As the election nears, his political aspirations are soured by the uncovering by a young reporter of an atrocity committed by his grandfather on the Kokoda Track in 1942.
Shawcoss is an equally popular candidate but is tormented from within, his racist views, hard drinking and womanising almost costing him his political career.
Despite the demons they encounter along the way, Takada and Shawcross are equally determined to be the country's first president.
400 pages, Paperback
First published October 31, 2009
1 person is currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Darryl Greer
10 books364 followersDarryl was born, educated and spent the first chapter of his working life in Queensland, Australia. He was raised and educated on the Gold Coast but his education was cut short – by him, due to the sheer boredom of it – and at the age of 15 he left to work on a milk run. He went on to work as a window cleaner, cocktail barman, wine waiter, clerk, car salesman and a guitarist/backing singer in a rather hopeless rock band. Eventually, he got his act together, studied Law and at 28 owned his own law firm in Queensland’s far north. After nine years in the tropics he became bored with constant blue skies, gently swaying coconut palms and scuba-diving on the Great Barrier Reef, so he sold up and moved with his family to London. He practised there for twenty years specialising in commercial litigation, mostly at partner level in the City. In 2004 he returned to Queensland and now lives with his daughter in the Gold Coast hinterland.
As an author, Darryl has written in his spare time for as long as he can remember. Prior to his focussing on novels, he had a respectable number of paid articles published in British and international magazines. In 2009 he self-published his novel "The Election," a political thriller. In 2012 he won a competition with one of his other manuscripts "Calvus," and this led to a publishing contract with Morris Publishing Australia. With the demise of that publisher he has re-published that title himself.
Following another successful competition win, Darryl signed contracts with Custom Book Publications for the publication of three of his novels. "Agnus Dei," a legal thriller was published in February 2014, "Sleeping With Angels", another legal thriller followed in November 2014 and "A Dragon In The Snow" in October 2015. "Bounty" was published on 10 July 2019. In a departure from writing novels, Darryl published his memoir "...Passing Through..." in 2020. In June 2023, Darryl published "Zeno" a sequel to his novel, "Calvus" published in 2011.
You can check out Darryl's articles on Substack:
https://darrylgreer.substack.com
All of Darryl's books are available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle eBook.
Darryl continues to write. Apart from writing, Darryl enjoys walking, travel, cinema and, of course, reading thrillers. He also continues his love of music and can be found on the music platform audius.co
Darryl's mission statement: "I aim to achieve optimal enjoyment from whatever I write and at the same time, transport my readers to another dimension, free from their daily grind."
Links:
https://darrylgreer.wordpress.com
https://www.instagram.com/darrylgreer...
https://twitter.com/DarrylGreer16
https://www.facebook.com/darryl.greer..." width="480" height="320" style="border:1px solid #EEE; background:white;" frameborder="0" scrolling="no">
As an author, Darryl has written in his spare time for as long as he can remember. Prior to his focussing on novels, he had a respectable number of paid articles published in British and international magazines. In 2009 he self-published his novel "The Election," a political thriller. In 2012 he won a competition with one of his other manuscripts "Calvus," and this led to a publishing contract with Morris Publishing Australia. With the demise of that publisher he has re-published that title himself.
Following another successful competition win, Darryl signed contracts with Custom Book Publications for the publication of three of his novels. "Agnus Dei," a legal thriller was published in February 2014, "Sleeping With Angels", another legal thriller followed in November 2014 and "A Dragon In The Snow" in October 2015. "Bounty" was published on 10 July 2019. In a departure from writing novels, Darryl published his memoir "...Passing Through..." in 2020. In June 2023, Darryl published "Zeno" a sequel to his novel, "Calvus" published in 2011.
You can check out Darryl's articles on Substack:
https://darrylgreer.substack.com
All of Darryl's books are available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle eBook.
Darryl continues to write. Apart from writing, Darryl enjoys walking, travel, cinema and, of course, reading thrillers. He also continues his love of music and can be found on the music platform audius.co
Darryl's mission statement: "I aim to achieve optimal enjoyment from whatever I write and at the same time, transport my readers to another dimension, free from their daily grind."
Links:
https://darrylgreer.wordpress.com
https://www.instagram.com/darrylgreer...
https://twitter.com/DarrylGreer16
https://www.facebook.com/darryl.greer..." width="480" height="320" style="border:1px solid #EEE; background:white;" frameborder="0" scrolling="no">
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 7, 2014
“The Election” initially started out as a difficult read for me to get into. The book is set in Australia and the author writes with a distinct Australian flair which takes a little getting used to especially as I did not have my Aussie to English dictionary available for some of the lingo. Crikey! It also did not help that in the opening chapter I was almost immediately thrust into a tragic and shockingly gruesome World War II scene which transpired on the Kokoda Track in 1942. I presumed this was an integral piece of information for later in the story but I hoped that there would not be too much more of the same throughout. However, once I started reading the subsequent chapters the tone changed and I was able to sit back, relax, and enjoy the book.
“The Election” focuses on Australia becoming a republic and the consequent campaigning and election of its first president. One of the book’s main characters, Michael Takada, is Australian-born but his father is full-blooded Japanese. These are turbulent times for Michael Takada and his family as well as anyone of Japanese decent within the country because of racial discrimination from a fanatical right-wing organization as well as a white supremacist terrorist group. While I know the story is fictional I am aware that racial discrimination is not and quite often the book took a very realistic turn because of this.
In summary, “The Election” is a well written story and the author, Darryl Greer, does an excellent job of making the characters come to life for the reader. He walks us through the complete election process which begins with an “idea” of who the candidates should be and ends with Australia successfully voting in its very first president. The ending has a rather unexpected twist which definitely leaves an opening for a sequel should the author feel compelled to write one. Lastly, Greer is descriptive without becoming verbose or boring and I feel “The Election” will definitely hold the attention of anyone who reads it. All in all a great book; an interesting read and I highly recommend it.
(Reviewed in association with Rebecca's Reads).
“The Election” focuses on Australia becoming a republic and the consequent campaigning and election of its first president. One of the book’s main characters, Michael Takada, is Australian-born but his father is full-blooded Japanese. These are turbulent times for Michael Takada and his family as well as anyone of Japanese decent within the country because of racial discrimination from a fanatical right-wing organization as well as a white supremacist terrorist group. While I know the story is fictional I am aware that racial discrimination is not and quite often the book took a very realistic turn because of this.
In summary, “The Election” is a well written story and the author, Darryl Greer, does an excellent job of making the characters come to life for the reader. He walks us through the complete election process which begins with an “idea” of who the candidates should be and ends with Australia successfully voting in its very first president. The ending has a rather unexpected twist which definitely leaves an opening for a sequel should the author feel compelled to write one. Lastly, Greer is descriptive without becoming verbose or boring and I feel “The Election” will definitely hold the attention of anyone who reads it. All in all a great book; an interesting read and I highly recommend it.
(Reviewed in association with Rebecca's Reads).
March 15, 2014
Book Review
By Jill Smith ©August 2010
Title: The Election
Author: Darryl Greer
Publisher: Self Published
The Election is a story based on the premise that The Royal Family are subject to Terrorism and the Australian public decide, through referendum, to become independent. Therefore, a new President must be elected, to rule a new Australian democracy. The candidates come from each State, voting for statewide candidates are narrowed down to the sole candidate in each State. Each begins a rigorous campaign to become President.
The leading Queensland candidate is Australian-born Michael Takada, whose father is Japanese. His strong leadership and speaking skills stem from being a lawyer in partnership in his Gold Coast firm. A position his Australian wife assures him will be left behind when he becomes President and she The First Lady.
His rival is the Western Australian candidate David Shawcross, and equally talented speaker with roots in the Union movement, who harbors racial prejudices against the Japanese.
A group of Right Wing extremists hampers Michael Takada’s campaign with a series of attacks. Duncan Fox was the orchestrator of the most lethal attacks undertaken by his group of thugs in the National Association for Zero Immigration party (or N.A.Z.I. Party), led by Greg White. The evil of Duncan Fox is palpable.
The story is not a political tale, so much as a human story of deep emotions. An old man who survived the Kakoda Track, is now sought out by two enthusiastic Journalists seeking ‘the whole story’ of Michael Takada’s grandfathers background. Could the news that Michael’s grandfather was a Japanese soldier, who perpetrated War Crimes there in 1942, jeopardize his election hopes?
Darryl has created a unique and challenging story that draws the reader into the drama of each situation. In our current election climate the campaign, intense travels around the country, hand shaking, baby kissing and speech making, it rings very true.
As a fellow Gold Coast Writer and our legal eagle, Darryl displays a sharp perception of details, relating human drama and possible political maneuvers that makes this book difficult to put down and haunting in its real life situations. For details go to http://www.darrylgreer.com/
Merged review:
The Election is a story based on the premise that The Royal Family are subject to Terrorism and the Australian public decide, through referendum, to become independent. Therefore, a new President must be elected, to rule a new Australian democracy. The candidates come from each State, voting for statewide candidates are narrowed down to the sole candidate in each State. Each begins a rigorous campaign to become President.
The leading Queensland candidate is Australian-born Michael Takada, whose father is Japanese. His strong leadership and speaking skills stem from being a lawyer in partnership in his Gold Coast firm. A position his Australian wife assures him will be left behind when he becomes President and she The First Lady.
His rival is the Western Australian candidate David Shawcross, and equally talented speaker with roots in the Union movement, who harbors racial prejudices against the Japanese.
A group of Right Wing extremists hampers Michael Takada’s campaign with a series of attacks. Duncan Fox was the orchestrator of the most lethal attacks undertaken by his group of thugs in the National Association for Zero Immigration party (or N.A.Z.I. Party), led by Greg White. The evil of Duncan Fox is palpable.
The story is not a political tale, so much as a human story of deep emotions. An old man who survived the Kakoda Track, is now sought out by two enthusiastic Journalists seeking ‘the whole story’ of Michael Takada’s grandfathers background. Could the news that Michael’s grandfather was a Japanese soldier, who perpetrated War Crimes there in 1942, jeopardize his election hopes?
Darryl has created a unique and challenging story that draws the reader into the drama of each situation. In our current election climate the campaign, intense travels around the country, hand shaking, baby kissing and speech making, it rings very true.
Darryl displays a sharp perception of details, relating human drama and possible political maneuvers that makes this book difficult to put down and haunting in its real life situations. For details go to http://www.darrylgreer.com/
By Jill Smith ©August 2010
Title: The Election
Author: Darryl Greer
Publisher: Self Published
The Election is a story based on the premise that The Royal Family are subject to Terrorism and the Australian public decide, through referendum, to become independent. Therefore, a new President must be elected, to rule a new Australian democracy. The candidates come from each State, voting for statewide candidates are narrowed down to the sole candidate in each State. Each begins a rigorous campaign to become President.
The leading Queensland candidate is Australian-born Michael Takada, whose father is Japanese. His strong leadership and speaking skills stem from being a lawyer in partnership in his Gold Coast firm. A position his Australian wife assures him will be left behind when he becomes President and she The First Lady.
His rival is the Western Australian candidate David Shawcross, and equally talented speaker with roots in the Union movement, who harbors racial prejudices against the Japanese.
A group of Right Wing extremists hampers Michael Takada’s campaign with a series of attacks. Duncan Fox was the orchestrator of the most lethal attacks undertaken by his group of thugs in the National Association for Zero Immigration party (or N.A.Z.I. Party), led by Greg White. The evil of Duncan Fox is palpable.
The story is not a political tale, so much as a human story of deep emotions. An old man who survived the Kakoda Track, is now sought out by two enthusiastic Journalists seeking ‘the whole story’ of Michael Takada’s grandfathers background. Could the news that Michael’s grandfather was a Japanese soldier, who perpetrated War Crimes there in 1942, jeopardize his election hopes?
Darryl has created a unique and challenging story that draws the reader into the drama of each situation. In our current election climate the campaign, intense travels around the country, hand shaking, baby kissing and speech making, it rings very true.
As a fellow Gold Coast Writer and our legal eagle, Darryl displays a sharp perception of details, relating human drama and possible political maneuvers that makes this book difficult to put down and haunting in its real life situations. For details go to http://www.darrylgreer.com/
Merged review:
The Election is a story based on the premise that The Royal Family are subject to Terrorism and the Australian public decide, through referendum, to become independent. Therefore, a new President must be elected, to rule a new Australian democracy. The candidates come from each State, voting for statewide candidates are narrowed down to the sole candidate in each State. Each begins a rigorous campaign to become President.
The leading Queensland candidate is Australian-born Michael Takada, whose father is Japanese. His strong leadership and speaking skills stem from being a lawyer in partnership in his Gold Coast firm. A position his Australian wife assures him will be left behind when he becomes President and she The First Lady.
His rival is the Western Australian candidate David Shawcross, and equally talented speaker with roots in the Union movement, who harbors racial prejudices against the Japanese.
A group of Right Wing extremists hampers Michael Takada’s campaign with a series of attacks. Duncan Fox was the orchestrator of the most lethal attacks undertaken by his group of thugs in the National Association for Zero Immigration party (or N.A.Z.I. Party), led by Greg White. The evil of Duncan Fox is palpable.
The story is not a political tale, so much as a human story of deep emotions. An old man who survived the Kakoda Track, is now sought out by two enthusiastic Journalists seeking ‘the whole story’ of Michael Takada’s grandfathers background. Could the news that Michael’s grandfather was a Japanese soldier, who perpetrated War Crimes there in 1942, jeopardize his election hopes?
Darryl has created a unique and challenging story that draws the reader into the drama of each situation. In our current election climate the campaign, intense travels around the country, hand shaking, baby kissing and speech making, it rings very true.
Darryl displays a sharp perception of details, relating human drama and possible political maneuvers that makes this book difficult to put down and haunting in its real life situations. For details go to http://www.darrylgreer.com/
October 24, 2020
Challenging, but definitely worth the effort! The Election was hard to read for the first few chapters because of how it was written. The Australian accent was very obvious and as someone not familiar with the language, it took me a while to get used to the narration. Aside from that, it really discussed racial discrimination and white supremacist terrorism in depth, something that not all writers choose to write stories about, unless it is a heroism plot.
Anyway, this book, despite including heavy topics, was actually a relaxing read. The flow of the story was smooth and gradual, making sure that the readers aren't dragged across the events happening. Writing was very descriptive-but not in a way that would give the reader info overload or bore them to sleep, it was just right. Overall, I really like The Election! Another book to add to my collection.
Anyway, this book, despite including heavy topics, was actually a relaxing read. The flow of the story was smooth and gradual, making sure that the readers aren't dragged across the events happening. Writing was very descriptive-but not in a way that would give the reader info overload or bore them to sleep, it was just right. Overall, I really like The Election! Another book to add to my collection.
June 20, 2014
Quite enjoyed it. Took me a little while to get into it and then really started to enjoy it.
October 25, 2020
I really liked how Darryl Greer made sure that the imagery of the story was on point. The narration was very creative and also very life-like. I wouldn't even understand the context of wars, given that it was the very first setting that the book would bring you in, but the writing style really brought you there. The main plot of the story was also an unfamiliar topic to me, as I do not know much about sociopolitics, campaigning, presidencies, etc., but The Election helped the reader walk through that and made sure that what the characters - especially Michael Takada - were going through was written very vividly. After the tragic journey that the reader will go through in the first few pages, the book actually shows a really interesting story and I wouldn't want to spoil much, just read the book! Totally worth your time!
October 25, 2020
A thousand words could paint me a beautiful picture, and Greer’s prose has certainly gone above and beyond. He lends careful detail into each of his characters-- from accents and stutters to curiously shifting tones and motivations. Admittedly, I was worried that it would become tiresome at first, what with there being so many characters, but I must say that the author is exceptionally skilled at playing with his exposition. The same can be said, of course, for the rest of his narrative. His knack for weaving together rather slow but thought-provoking scenes with fast, intense episodes leaves the reader on edge-- I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book so fast before. Despite its considerably dark themes, The Election was a pleasant read, and an eye-opener I’d recommend to anyone willing to appreciate such a masterpiece.
October 25, 2020
I adore Darryl Greer. His choice of words are very colorful, and an absolute brain-tickler! Aside from the descriptive words he used for the scenes, the way he wrote the lines of the characters were very expressive, and the emotions were very evident. One of my favorite lines from the story, as it really encapsulated a lot of emotions despite the limited use of words, was "Frank raised his eyebrows. ‘Not yet, we haven’t.’" from the 7th chapter. Greer really made me stay on the edge of my seat for the entire chapter, and that was only one of the many lines that made me do that! Knowing how to keep his audience hooked until the end, Greer sure has the talent. Undoubtedly one of the most gripping books I've read.
October 26, 2020
The opening chapter is such a ridiculously good hook. I don’t want to spoil future readers, but let’s just say that it was “just another gunshot in the jungle” that sent chills down my spine. It was a fitting prelude for the rest of the story, and the juxtaposition of a gun fight and a political battle (although I suppose it is not unusual for them to be seen together) was tastefully executed. They are, after all, two sides of the same coin, and it would be quite challenging to definitively determine which is more brutal compared to the other. Sad as it is to say, this novel is, without a doubt, timely for whatever year you decide to read it in. I am looking forward to more of Greer’s work.
October 26, 2020
I’m not much of a politics person. I keep up with relevant news, sure, but I’m not the sort to enjoy following a politician’s numerous public appearances, campaigns, and debates and such. Clearly I won’t be running for president, but I think Frank’s critical pep talks for Michael might have hit home for me as well. There is a lot to realize in this book, and there is a lot to learn, especially for people like me who are privileged enough to have the audacity of being disinterested in politics. Greer has definitely taken me for a ride with this one, and I will definitely be checking out more of his books. I think I’ve got my eyes set on Sleeping with Angels next!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews