Review of President's Day

[Yelisa MC]

[Following is a volunteer review of "President's Day" by Stephen A. Werbel, Ph.D..]

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1 out of 4 stars

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Imagine waking up one day to find out that you are a murderer – not just any murderer, but an assassin of one of the world’s most well-known and powerful leaders: the President of the United States of America. Such was the fate of ninety-year-old Sylvia Parrish in Stephen A. Werbel’s debut novel, President’s Day. Waking up one day in a hospital bed, having no idea where she is or what has happened, Sylvia is led on a journey of doctor’s appointments, police interviews, and even hypnosis to discover the truth behind the accusation that she has killed America’s President. In the meantime, the world is divided between applauding and condemning this unlikely murderess, while Mrs. Parrish herself is torn between belief and doubt, joy and anger, love and hate.

President’s Day contains many great characters like fiery Sylvia, her aging husband Abe, a novice lawyer Robert, and wise Dr. Ariyoshi which fill the book with a variety of personalities and feelings. The plot, though, is my favorite part as it intrigues and tells this story from a unique perspective. It was interesting to delve into what the aftermath of a president’s assassination would be like in today’s world. Though the book is fiction, it clearly refers to real people and thus offers a strong opinion on what the world would look like without one of our former presidents.

However, I think this novel could have been much better had it been professionally edited. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of technical errors throughout including grammatical errors, mechanical issues, confusing transitions, stilted dialogue, and a choppy style. The concept of the plot and characters is overall good, but the execution sadly falls short of its potential.

For instance, the majority of the book takes place in a Honolulu hospital, looping the characters into a continuous cycle of routine and keeping the plot from moving forward. Additionally, there were many portions of the book which made it very unrealistic even for fiction. A few examples are: extremely relaxed police procedures, all characters' mutual hatred for the president, no name given to the president, and the ability of the lawyer to find out impossible information. Finally, while the beginning and end of the book contain plenty of action, the middle of the book is basically an hour-by-hour description of Sylvia’s day with every bit of dialogue, thought, or movement repeated several times over, making this portion doubly difficult to get through.

For these reasons, I rate President's Day 1 out of 4 stars . I think the overall concept and characters are great, but this book certainly needs more editing before I would recommend it to others. If the technical issues were worked out, I believe that Werbel’s book would be incredibly enjoyable for any adults interested in historical fiction, conspiracy theories, and political intrigue.

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President's Day
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