Dark Horse by Fletcher Knebel

Dark Horse Reviews

• 
  Nicholas Whyte

  
  http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2684868.html
  
  This book is going for a penny plus postage on the online used book store of your choice, and I recommend you buy it now before the rush later this year. Written in 1972, anticipating the 1976 election, it concerns the story of Eddie Quinn, an obscure former Congressman and New Jersey Turnpike Commissioner who is unexpectedly thrust to national prominence when the failing Republican presidential candidate suddenly dies three weeks before the election and the party reaches desperately for a replacement; nobody, including the colourless Vice-Presidential candidate, wants to go down in history as the loser, and Quinn is good-looking, doesn't drink or smoke, and is not known for dangerous views.
  
  Although the Democrats are well in the lead (with an intellectual Methodist state governor rather reminiscent of their real 1976 candidate, Jimmy Carter), Quinn launches a populist rearguard campaign, promising tax cuts, an end to the military draft for young people, a system of ombudsmen, and much else, which instantly earns him the displeasure of the Republican grandees (particularly the one who is nominally married to his lover) but catches the interest of increasing numbers of voters, leading to a dramatic conclusion to the election.
  
  There are several particularly intense incidents: Quinn's opening speech, where he attacks vested political interests like the ones that have just nominated him; his gathering of a diverse group of trusted advisers; a confrontation with black radicals in Quinn's home town (which sounds a bit like my grandmother's home town of Plainfield); and a fatal car accident which Quinn refuses to allow his team to cover up. The author's tone towards lefties and feminists is a bit wearyingly snide (not to mention New Jersey, "a corridor of swampy weather and toadstool habitations that called itself a state"), but apart from that it's a real page-turner.
  
  Of course, a book like this is always going to be partial wish-fulfillment. (See my list of Pope books; was Hadrian the Seventh the orignial Mary Sue?) But Knebel mounts a sharp critique from the liberal Right (a species that barely exists these days) of conventional American political wisdom, and challenges the reader to wonder how change might come? Things have now got worse, of course; I strongly recommend this recent article from The Atlantic, How American Politics Went Insane for a review of what has gone wrong, mostly since this book was written.
  
  Apart from the death of the liberal Right, there are other major differences between how politics happened in 1972 and how it happens today. The most striking is that there was no twenty-four hour news cycle. The press corps did indeed follow the candidates around, but they were print journalists with their early evening deadlines; TV was much more cumbersome and had to be carefully arranged in advance. Minor gaffes by Quinn and his campaign staff are laughed off in a cordial way by all concerned, rather than becoming the focus of faux outrage by media talking heads. There is no chance that a candidate's love affair with a married Congresswoman could evade scrutiny today for as long as Quinn gets away with it in this book. (There is a sub-plot with a sex tape of which there is only one copy.)
  
  Another point that hit me was that the only mention of TV debates is a brief reference to Kennedy/Nixon in 1960, with the strong implication tha that experiment would never be repeated. Debates are now of course an immovable part of the process, but we tend to forget that rather than 1960 that has only been the case since 1976, when Gerald Ford killed his own chances of re-election by mis-speaking about Eastern Europe. (Ford, who was the 1976 Republican candidate in real life, was also something of a dark horse given that in 1972 he was the fading House Minority Leader).
  
  It's irresistible to compare the fictional 1976 scenario of Dark Horse with the real situation forty years after, where one insurgent from outside the party leadership came within a few hundred delegates of capturing the Democratic nomination, and another insurgent actually is the Republican nominee. Knebel's Quinn is closer in policy to Trump than Sanders, but has several redeeming points: he values intellectual input and thoughtful policy-making, he instinctively grasps the importance of reaching much wider than the white male demographic and challenges his own party on race and gender issues (even if he doesn't end up where we might want him to), and he doesn't tell lies. Immigration is a second or third generation issue, and the terrorists are domestic insurgents neutralised by negotiation. I would probably still have supported Quinn's Democratic opponent if I'd had a vote in this fictional 1976, but I would have found it a tough choice. Read the book for yourself, and see what you think.
  
• 
  Don McNay

  I read this book in high school and still love it. The best of Knebel's books
• 
  Mark Cofta

  This was the first novel for adults that I ever read, back when I was around 11. I remember a few titillating sex scenes (quite timid by today's standards) as well as some thrilling political machinations as a junior congressman becomes a unlikely and unwilling presidential candidate shortly before an election after the incumbent dies suddenly. It launched a lifetime of reading novels -- though not many more political thrillers, since I soon discovered science fiction and theater, which took my reading in two other exciting directions. I recently read another Fletcher Knebel novel and found the period's casual misogyny frustrating but the writing solid and well crafted.
• 
  Michael Travis

  I have to give Fletcher Knebel a 5 star rating in general. I have now read 3 of his books dating from the 60's/70's that were so ahead of the time and touched on great political scenarios. This book, Dark Horse, was fascinating and so relevant when we look at our current environment. Eddie Quinn, the fill in as a presidential candidate, went from hesitant to inspiring, despite several significant hurdles to get through. His candor, transparency and drive for the normal guy are all very attractive qualities that I am looking for in our field of democratic candidates.
  
  I love Fletcher and his prescience.
• 
  Vincent Solomeno

  "Dark Horse" by Fletcher Knebel is the story of a New Jersey highway commissioner who unexpectedly finds himself the Republican candidate for President. The book is intriguing, detailed, and filled with interesting characters. In short, it is the product one comes to expect from Knebel, who authored many other fiction books within this genre. Of note, the book eerily predicts recent developments in real life American politics. Eddie Quinn, the protagonist, may have presaged Donald Trump by fifty years but there were times where I read the dialogue and smiled. It's as if the 45th President channels Knebel's earlier creation of the political outsider taking on the establishment.
• 
  Claudia Gerwin

  Read this one before the next presidential election!
• 
  Sharon

  Last night I didn't get to bed till rather late because I was reading. Now, this used to be commonplace for me, but lately I usually fall asleep after a chapter or two. However, last night I remembered a book I had read way back in High School, and it bugged me a bit because I couldn't remember the author. The title was Dark Horse, and after searching for a bit I found the author was Fletcher Knebel. I remember being quite impressed with it when I read it, but after 40+ years the details were kind of fuzzy so I decided to check out the reviews to see what other people thought of it. I was shocked. The very first review compared the main character to Trump, which didn't fit my memory of the book at all. So I decided to re-read it to find out if my younger self had been wrong about the main character.
  
  What I discovered is that he does have a couple of things in common with Trump. He is a speaker who can get a crowd behind him and get people to do things for him. He also focuses his campaign on the blue collar worker. Other than that, he has nothing in common with Trump. He is honest, his policies are radical but make sense, he listens to his advisors and forms his policies with some of their assistance, but adds his own twist. And all of his policies are aimed at helping the blue collar worker, and are clearly stated in such a way that ALL the current political establishment actively turns on him, because his polices would hit them in the pocketbook. In other words, he ain't no Trump.
  
  The politics the main character espouses has a lot more to do with AOC and Sanders. Frankly, I think if this man actually existed you could see him as more of a more charismatic, pragmatic version of Sanders. If you have never read Dark Horse by Fletcher Knebel, I highly recommend it. As I read it I saw a lot of parallels to today's problems. Pollution, Climate, overpopulation, corporate greed. And this fiction book was written in 1972! It shows just how little the political system has changed in that NONE of these problems, recognized 50 years ago, have been dealt with. None. The book of course is long out of print, but if you are interested enough to read it you might luck out and find a used copy. Frankly, I would like to see it come back into print simply because of how relevant it is. Try libraries and interlibrary loan if you are interested but don't want to track down a copy yourself.
• 
  Bob Box

  Read in 1974. No memory of author or title.
• 
  Eric Wilson

  I've read three other Knebel political thrillers, all of which I enjoyed, but this one may be my favorite. Perhaps reading it during midterm elections added to the fun. It is amazing--and sad, as well--how many elements of this still feel relevant to our politics 50 years later. Thoroughly enjoyed this book.
• 
  Michael Burhans

  The candidate for a major party suddenly dies just weeks before the election. What happens, who do you pick? Do they stand a chance with only a few weeks to go before the election? Again, a bit dated but a gripping political thriller.
• 
  Del B

  This one is kind of fun. A political story of a man who goes from being a truckdriver to a party's nominee.
  
  Worth the time if you like Knebel or political fiction.
• 
  Crystal

  I found this to be a very interesting read.