"Circle of Twelve" by Ted Gagliano and Bob O'Brien

Bitter satire is the weapon of malcontents, and the characters in Circle of Twelve, a novel by Ted Gagliano and Bob O’Brien, leave no doubt how frustrated they are with the current White House. The key word throughout the book is “change,” and that’s what the 12 circle members want. Since they rule the world, it’s simply a matter of choosing the candidate that does their bidding.


The circle of 12 are financiers who meet in Switzerland 10 times a year and make decisions that affect the world. Gregory Szucs is the primary mover, and he chooses “loyals” to do his bidding from newspaper columnist Dave Krapman to his hand-picked candidate for U.S. president, Brett Pseudoman.

However, Suzanne Parker and her husband, Tim are also dissatisfied with the direction the U.S. is going, so Suzanne decides she can do something: run for office. She starts by running for he school board and wins. She climbs up the ladder: legislature then governor.

Szucs realizes Suzanne chooses to run for president as an independent and she’s preaching a message people want to hear. If she is a party candidate, she says she’d be “selling my soul to veiled forces trying to control our country.”

However, since he and his cohorts control the world, they will not let her dismantle their plans.

The book reads more like a political treatise than a novel. It covers all aspects of the political process from running for office to buying votes to re-election.

Suzanne says, “Most [politicians] are hustlers…”

“Money, since its invention, has become the ultimate instrument of power.”

“By means of confiscatory taxation the federal government uses our money to control what our children are allowed to learn and believe,” Suzanne says when she’s running for governor. “I believe that the policy of federal handouts is wrong…”

“Our federal government is gobbling up our freedoms,” she says.

“Currently, each and every crisis is met with the same vagueness and indecision that has characterized his entire career.”

The book never mentions real names except for Michael Jordan and Walter Payton, both last names are misspelled, which is so thinly veiled. The book is a total slam against President Obama, although his name is never mentioned. Pro-Obama readers will be incensed at what the book says, and anti-Obama/pro-Republicans will praise the book for its insights. It’s a personal choice, as voting in November is.