Hope Never Dies: Review

Hope Never Dies (2018) by Andrew Shaffer is a humorous, action-packed thriller starring everyone's favorite political bromance: Uncle Joe Biden and Barack Obama. Shaffer gives us a Biden who is feeling rather at loose ends after the excitement of the White House. He's let himself go a bit--gaining around the middle and being decidedly less active. He's also feeling discarded as he watches Obama on the internet--flitting about on his extended vacation, sailing and hobnobbing with the elites of Hollywood and beyond. Looking for a new best friend, is what Biden thinks.

Then Obama shows up in the woods behind Biden's house--cigarette-end glowing like the opener of some pulp-era thriller. And, by golly, if that's not just what it is. One of Biden's favorite Amtrak engineers has been found dead on the tracks. the police think its suicide, but Obama has news for his old VP--the man had a map with with Biden's house on it. Was there a plot against Biden afoot? Was the man planning to come to "Amtrack Joe" for help? The two men team up to follow the clues that begin to appear--ditching secret service men and setting out on their own to discover a mystery much deeper than the death of an engineer. 

This is quite simply a fun, campy ride. It's also a bit of wish-fulfillment for those of us who would like to see these guys back together doing something meaningful for America. It plays heavily on the Biden-Obama relationship portrayed in so many memes

and gives us a crime-fighting team to root for in these dark times of #45 in the White House. In addition to the campy, bromance moments, Shaffer manages to give readers a pretty decent mystery to unravel around a very topical plot. ★★★

[Finished 10/30/18]