Mr. Book finished reading My Name Is Davis: A Modern Political Thriller by Mike Michalak on November 2, 2026.
Thank you to Atmosphere Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book for review consideration in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The beginning of the book showed a lot of promise. The Russian, Chinese and Korean governments are all decapitated and Davis, the mastermind behind the plot, coerces POTUS into resigning. They then choose Walter Kaye, the owner of an appliance company and member of the local school board in Iowa, as the next president.
The author did a good job building up the suspense of what was happening and making the reader want to know more about the plot. But starting with the scene where Kaye becomes president, the book unravels. For starters, the House and Senate are voting in joint session, the House is confirming cabinet nominees and then both houses confirm Kaye as the new president. There would have been a way to do this properly: after the president’s resignation, the VP assumes the presidency, appoints Kaye as VP and, after he’s confirmed, she resigns making Kaye president. Then, Kaye appoints her to her old position as VP and Congress confirms that to restore her to her previous position.
From there, the book is just an exercise in suspending disbelief on everything that is happening. The book asks us to accept that the public and media easily accept the coup overthrowing their elected president. It then requires us to accept that the presidency is such an easy job to master that anyone could be picked out of obscurity, put into office, stop the Iranians from attacking by making a single phone call asking them nicely not to, have the First Lady pretty much solve homelessness, have approval ratings in the 90s and get reelected virtually unopposed, get the Nobel Prize very early in his administration and, probably in the sequel, have a commission decide let’s tear down Mt. Rushmore because all we need is just Walker Kaye on the revised version.
The book also lost me when it came to caring about the main character. Kaye was presented as though he was the perfect nonpartisan, independent get along with everyone character who just happened to also briefly make national news with his offensive comments against transgender people. Then, in his address to Congress after its blatantly unconstitutional approval process, he succeeded in showing that he mostly is a pretty right-wing man who will occasionally also throw in things that have universal support too. He would definitely be a president who, if this were real, I would be opposing from the moment his administration started.
And, finally, when the villain is revealed, along with his motive, it is a very unsatisfying resolution. It doesn’t make any sense that a person who is described the way that Davis is would have gone about achieving that motive in this way. There are so many other ways that he could have done it.
Mr. Book gave it a C. The only thing that saves it from a D or even an F is that the first part, before Kaye was installed, was very good in terms of adding to the intrigue and making me want to continue reading. Then, after that, it was so bad that it all averaged itself out to a C. Even in the first part, the suspension of disbelief on certain things was an acceptable part of reading a fictional political thriller. But then, we were asked to accept so many unbelievable things that, looking back, the first part starts to look like just a preview of what would be coming. But having an enjoyable first chunk of the book is part of the journey and should count for something.
Goodreads requires grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a C equates to 2 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews.
The book is scheduled to be published on November 3, 2026.
