SEVEN DAYS IN MAY by Fletcher Knebel and Charles Bailey is a frightening look at what most people would consider impossible in the government established by our Constitution. Most Americans take our democratic form of government for granted; but could a military leader manage to engineer a coup to overthrow the Executive Branch of government?

This is the central issue in this novel set sometime around a decade after Kennedy's administration (the book was written in 1962), as an unpopular President Lyman faces unrest in both in the armed forces and the civilian sector over a proposed disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union, labor troubles at home, and a poor economy. Colonel Martin Casey, reporting to the Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff, suspects something is up when a series of suspicious events and circumstances occur, which lead him to conclude that JSC Chairman General Scott is readying a coup. With only days before the potential coup, President Lyman, and his trusted allies Colonel Cassey, Secretary of Treasury Todd, Senator Clark from Georgia, the President's Appointment Secretary Girard and Secret Service Agent Corwin, must act quickly to try to corroborate or disprove the theory of a military coup. The investigation includes a kidnapping of one of the President's men at a secret military base, a suspicious death that rattles the President, the use of sexual innuendo for information, and more.

The picture this novel paints is a frightening one. The book is not a difficult one to read or comprehend. In the end, you're left wondering if it could possibly happen today. The book is set up as a chronological account of the actions of the Presidents team over the seven days until the coup; the pressure of time is constantly felt through the novel, which just adds to the suspense. Although over 300 pages, the book starts up quick and never stops. SEVEN DAYS IN MAY is an excellent political thriller that entertains and makes you wonder. Once you pick it up you'll find it difficult to put down. I highly recommend.

A coup d'etat in the United States? A visionary pacifist President gets a disarmament treaty ratified, over the military's opposition, and is about to begin implementing it despite widespread public apprehension and disapproval. Some top military and congressional leaders, led by the charismatic general who chairs the Joint Chiefs of Staff, join forces in taking advantage of the President's political weakness--but what are they planning, and how far will they go? The general's aide begins connecting certain ominous clues, suspects the worst, and shares his fears with the President. Then the battle is joined: the President and a small inner circle must not only figure out whether there is a conspiracy but, if there is one, must neutralize it--all before a blow that might fall at any time, all without provoking the conspirators into premature action, and all without falling prey to a paranoia that will itself furnish the pretext for bringing down the President even if there never was any conspiracy.

The writing is tight and dramatic. "Seven Days in May" was adapted to the big screen in a 1964 film starring Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, and again thirty years later in a 1994 made-for-television movie starring Forrest Tucker. Both versions do justice to the novel.

If you enjoy "Seven Days in May," you may also enjoy "Night of Camp David," also by Fletcher Knebel. "Night of Camp David" largely follows the same formula as "Seven Days in May," but the issue is presidential incapacity rather than a coup d'etat.

Is an American coup impossible? Maybe. Then again, maybe not. With all these crazies from the militia movement to the Posse Commitatus, it's quite possible. What if it happened? Who'd do it? Probably a power-hungry general. Who'd stop it? A loyal Marine colonel perhaps? That's the plot of the 1962 novel and movie Seven Days in May. James Mattoon Scott, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the power-hungry general, Colonel "Jiggs" Casey's the loyal Marine who uncovers Scott's plan and warns the President. The attempted coup begins when the President of the United States signs an arms control treaty with the Soviet Union and his popularity sinks like the Titanic and the Lusitania. Casey, an alcoholic, is at a party being thrown by a Washington socialite in suburban Chevy Chase, Maryland, when Scott makes his move against the President. The climatic confrontation comes when the President tells Scott that if he has a disagreement with our policies he should resign his commission and run for President in the next election. He can't be in the military and President at the same time. Casey warns the President and is rewarded. Scott's arrested and charged with treason. This book may be old but it's not dated.

Eddie Quinn, Commissioner of the New Jersey Turnpike, is made Presidential candidate after no one in the power bloc ruling the party can come up with another agreeable person to all factions within it, and shakes the United States from pillar to post in a refreshing populistic campaign to give all people a "fair shake" in Washington, DC.

At times dramatic, humorous, and hard-hitting, it's a book to read if you like a political thrillers.

I'm in grade 8 and going on grade 9. I think the book is very interesting

A good book. I was interested in this book because I wanted to check out other books written by the author of Seven Days in May.I love political thrillers and I think anybody else who loves political thrillers will enjoy this book also. The setting of the book is in the 1960's maybe early 70's. The reader will probably recognize this by some of the pop phrases in the book such as "groovy". I don't want to give the plot away because there are some surprises. If you enjoy political thrillers,Tom Clancy novels or the recent movie The Contender you will not be disappointed.

President Mark Hollenbach is at the top of his game on the eve of his campaign for a second term. But a scandal has disgraced his vice-president, so he needs a new running mate, and turns to first-term senator Jim MacVeagh. But as the President courts MacVeagh, revealing confidential plans for his next administration, MacVeagh begins doubting--first the President's judgment, then his sanity. MacVeigh reluctantly confides his doubts to a few carefully chosen colleagues, who doubt MacVeagh more than they doubt the President. But when the President schedules a summit with the wily Soviet leader, the question of Hollenbach's mental health becomes critical, and MacVeagh must air the doubts that may bring him down instead of Hollenbach.

"Night of Camp David" is clearly a product of its time. Written while the twenty-fifth amendment was pending but before its ratification, it treats the issues that the amendment addressed: how the government functions when its head can't handle the job but also can't recognize, or can't admit, his or her own incapacity. Those issues were particularly relevant when Knebel began writing the novel because Lyndon Johnson had recently succeeded to the Presidency after President Kennedy's assassination, the vice-presidency was vacant, and the next two successors were 71-year-old House Speaker John McCormack and 86-year-old Senate President pro tem Carl Hayden. (The novel also brings down a vice-president over a scandal involving construction contracts, almost a decade before the kickback scandal that brought down Vice-President Agnew.) But the issues are just as relevant today as they were almost forty years ago, even though they no longer engage the public's attention as they did in the mid-1960s.

"Night of Camp David" also follows the successful formula of its author's successful "Seven Days in May": a loyal subordinate begins doubting his larger-than-life superior, and must persuade a skeptical establishment about his doubts before the nation suffers irreparable damage. "Night of Camp David" is not quite as dramatic or suspenseful as "Seven Days in May," but its plot is equally intricate, and if you liked one then you will almost surely like the other.