Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Far From Being Up To Par!

I've been a big fan of Richard North Patterson's books over the years. Some of his books are among my all-time favorites. However, Protect And Defend is a a far cry from being among his best. As a matter of fact, this book falls near the bottom of the pack. Instead of being focused on creating an interesting and compelling story line with well-developed characters, for which Patterson had previously been noted, Protect And Defend is much too focused an expounding (ad nauseum, at times) on the issue of abortion, and does so at the expense of a rich plot. Too often I found myself skimming through the pages in order to search for the "story." Unfortunately, this task became too tedious and unrewarding, and I had to give up on the book about about two-thirds of the way through. Unless you have a burning desire to read a treatise on the pro-life/pro-choice issue, I'd suggest that you skip this book.