Product Description

She was a girl, really, with short red hair and a waif-like slimness. But despite the flowered dress she wore, her belly had begun to show. Immobile, the girl gazed at the clinic as though it were a thousand miles away.' The young woman is Mary Ann Tierney. She is fifteen years old. Within days her name will be known to millions across America, her court case a television must-watch for everyone from the President downwards. As Mary Ann takes on her own parents and the constitutional law of the United States in a desperate bid to protect her future right to bear children, the ramifications of 'the Tierney case' bring a threat to the new President, Kerry Kilcannon, to his nominee for Chief Justice, Caroline Masters, and to his main rival for the Presidency, Senator Chad Palmer. All have dangerous secrets in their past, secrets that would not only threaten careers, but bring death and tragedy to innocent lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207394 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 718 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Richard North Patterson's excellent Protect and Defend is both courtroom drama and political nail-biter; if politics is the art of the possible, just how far is it legitimate to go in a cause which you think of as good? A 15-year-old, pregnant with a seriously disabled child delivering which alive will prevent her having further children; parents so adamantly opposed to abortion that they will refuse consent to what she wants--this is the minefield into which idealistic lawyer Sarah walks knowing that she has found the hard case to discredit a bad law. Her former mentor Caroline is up for promotion to Chief Justice--and Sarah's test case becomes the litmus paper by which an entire political culture brings itself to judgement... Patterson forces us to consider the entire question of the private, the personal and the political--no one from Democrat President to Republican candidate has entirely clean hands, but just how intrusive is the process of scrutiny allowed to be? Patterson writes as an insider--his acknowledgements list includes two US Presidents--but his sense of the law and of the political process is balanced by compassion for those conscripted into the public eye by circumstances not ambition. --Roz Kaveney

Review
Fifteen-year-old Mary Ann Tierney is pregnant with a hydrocephalic foetus and wants an abortion - but she is forced to take on her parents and the constitutional law of the USA in a desperate bid to protect her future right to bear children. The ramifications of her case threaten the new President, his nominee for Chief Justice and his main rival for the Presidency for all have dangerous secrets in their past.

Amy Tan
an important novel on passion and politics... appeals to both the intellect and the heart.

Customer Reviews

Excellent insight into the working of American politics
This was my first Richard North Patterson and I concede that at first it took a bit of getting into. However, once all characters had been established the storyline was gripping. Not only a legal and political thriller but the central theme of abortion is a moral minefield which was handled in a sensitive and balanced way by the author. The real eye opener for me was the power yielded by the various interest groups which fund US politics. If I had one criticism, it would be that Kilcannon, the President, is too perfect and lacks the flaws and conflicts of those around him. However, I am looking forward to reading the author's earlier offerings.

Another excellent Political-Legal thriller.
This is a gritty and thought provoking story. Richard North Patterson gives the reader much to think about. Many of the characters from his previous books feature in this book principally Kerry Kilkannon & Caroline Masters, so for those who found earlier books unputdownable, and like to know what happened next...

Set in Washington you are brought into the harsh world of presidential politics and the difficult decisions that president has to make, and the dirty political games that go with the job.

I was addicted to the story, which centres around the abortion/adoption issue and it's implications for young girls and their parents. A must for RNP devotees

Passionate and punchy, political and personal
Having read No Safe Place (Kerry Kilcannon's presidential campaign), I grabbed this book as soon as it came out - and I got through it in three days flat because I couldn't put it down.
Richard North Patterson has forgotten more than most thriller writers ever knew about pace and plot, and - unlike many - can also write a decent sentence.
The subject matter is controversial, but sensitively handled, with feelings and issues on each side examined with care.
Political background is explained well, and the machinations of the insiders are fascinating.
The book also serves to illustrate the media's far-reaching influence on society and politics - an important job may not be given to a clearly suitable and well-qualified woman, because her views may not please the media and there's a "story" buried in her past.
On the personal front, family relationships are honest and well-portrayed, with some endearing and some heart-rending moments.
My only real reservation is that Kerry Kilcannon, an attractive and very likeable character, is perhaps just a little too perfect.
At the end (700+ pages, let's not forget), I was desperate for the story to continue. Roll on the next instalment of the Kilcannon saga.