The Evil That Men Do

Elena Moreno

by Robert Gleason

Robert Gleason’s riveting terrorism thriller, The Evil That Men Do , “isn’t inspired by the headlines, it is the headlines” ( New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry). Income inequality and the offshore hoarding of illicit black funds have reached such extremes that the earth’s democracies are in peril. The oligarchs are taking over. People worldwide, however, are rising up, and they demand the UN seize and redistribute all that illegal filthy lucre. A Russian strongman, the American president, and the Saudi Ambassador to the US will do anything to stop and destroy this global expropriation moment―even if it means nuking the UN. Only three people can stop the crusading, muckraking, investigative journalist Jules Meredith; ex-CIA agent Elena Moreno; and her boyfriend, the ex-Special Forces Operative turned cybersecurity billionaire, John C. Jameson. If these three fail, the nuclear fireballs will blaze, democracies around the world will die, the UN will burn, and the Age of the Great Global Oligarchs will begin.

Genres: Fiction

560 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published January 29, 2019

About the author

Robert Gleason was born in Michigan City, Indiana. He has an AB in English literature from Indiana University, a master’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin and he attended the Sorbonne, all of which were financed by seven hellish years in the Gary steel mills. He has worked in New York book publishing as an acquisitions editor pretty much forever. When he began, he says, he and his colleagues "chiseled books on the walls of caves." He lives in New York City

Reviews

[Birch Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE EVIL THAT MEN DO
By Robert Gleason

This is one of those books that makes you challenge your current world perception. Equal parts humor, suspense and prescience, its unvarnished horror blends seamlessly with Mr. Gleason’s immensely entertaining story. Without too much plot recap, the current Russian and United States presidents, along with other miscreant zillionaire allies, are confronted with ruin by a united United Nations General Assembly (this IS fiction after all). The world body seems to have taken a decidedly socialist turn (the book was written well before the November 2018 elections by the way), and it plans to redistribute the above-mentioned allies’ obscene and ill-gotten lucre. Naturally, this does not sit well with the latter, hence the story that unfolds. Eventually, one result of the action results in a greatly weakened American President, a Trump doppelganger if I’m not mistaken, who seems to be sadly waiting out his time in office rather than being impeached.
As of the date of writing this review, Robert Mueller has just presented the report of his Russian investigation to U.S. Attorney General William Barr, but the contents are still unknown. I’m anxious to see how closely Mr. Gleason’s visionary satire conforms with the revelations sure to come over the next few days.
Mr. Gleason is widely recognized as an expert on nuclear terrorism, but his extremely thorough research extends far beyond that. It would take me a lifetime to assemble all the information about shadow banking, international corporate misdoings and election shenanigans he seems to have floating around in his Machiavellian and playfully inventive mind. A great and thought provoking read!

[Fred Rayworth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up The Evil That Men Do at random from the book shelf at Barnes & Noble, with the mistaken premise that this story was a thriller. After all, the back cover blurb suggested so, plus the beginning is literally plastered with endorsements from a who’s who of authors.

Big mistake.

This story was horrible. It was nothing but a prolonged political slog-fest about Trump and Putin…uh sorry…Tower and Putilov, two powerful billionaire megalomaniac oligarchs who can do no right. All I have to do is watch the news to get that.

What made this story so excruciating was that the author rambled on and on and on and on. And then, he rambled on some more, pounding his message in again and again at how evil and insane the bad guys were. It would go from endless page-long paragraphs of how bad they were to endless page-long italics of inner thoughts from the characters reinforcing how bad they were.

Not only that, but what little action and plot there was, happened so quick that the entire novel could’ve been told in twenty-five pages.

Now, don’t get me started on the writing. While it was told in solid third-person, past-tense, the point of view was far from limited. The author head-hopped with abandon, whenever he felt like it. Not only that, but the inner thoughts, as told through italics, made for an annoying experience.

This was one book I couldn’t wait to get to the end of. There wasn’t much of anything redeeming about it. I just wanted to get to the end, and only did just to see what happened, and because I forked out good cash for it. Then the author kept rambling on with an “Afterward” which by that time, I’d had enough, and skipped.

I know an author now to avoid at all costs. Sorry. While he may be a wonderful author for some, he’s clearly not for me.

[Dwain Weckman · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was terrible!!!! I got about 1/3 of the way into it and couldn't read any more of it. It is a thinly veiled attack on the ultra rich and powerful oligarchs in the world, including Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and one or two Saudi princes as leading characters, and their evil, immoral and greedy ways. Full of long, vulgar passages of dialog that rails against these people, violent killings, steamy sex scenes with ultra gorgeous women . . . and no real action. Unbelievable! I had to stop reading because it was so terrible.

[Christoph Weber · Rating 1 out of 5]

When you google Robert Gleason, the first hits are a serial killer. That's not this Robert Gleason. This Robert Gleason only kills your fun of reading.

Got it second-hand for a buck or two and it's not worth that much.

Sure, the woke brigade over at Tor will have loved it and Scalzi will have clapped more than his hands over this piece of garbage.

It's so hamfisted and obvious in its shitty rhetoric, its imagery. Message fuction at its worst. I did not finish this book, in fact I barely got started before disgustedly throwing it in the trash where it belongs.

[Katheryn Bargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a hard time making myself read this book. Politics make me angry. So, I put it back on my TBR shelf for a couple of weeks and decided to try again. I'm glad I did! The more I read the harder it was to put it down! Richard Gleason really had me thinking about Political sabotage, corporate and private Greed and how the people we put in power can take actions that affect us all. If you get a chance to read this book, you won't be disappointed.

[R Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book has a lot of obvious similarities with today's leaders in the world. Everything from initials, to careers, and family situation etc. I was a bit disappointed because it comes across as slanting away from those leaders. If Gleason had footnote, or connected his research which is in the back of the book, it would have helped me to better understand the slant. It definitely makes one ponder what exactly is happening behind the curtain of Oz.

[Cathy Biggers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seemed like a thinly veiled story about the current world leaders. I realize the world isn't as safe and sane as we'd like it to be, but this story disturbed me on many levels, for many reasons. It was tough going in the beginning but I did read the entire book.

[Dr G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Won this book on Goodreads and by write up am anxiously anticipating its arrival. Should be a great thriller by an interesting author. Think you will like it too.

[Ryan Hillis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so bad. No effort to hide that it was about Trump and putin, and full of nonsense