Word: coffin
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...Talisman is a suspense novel that tries to be political, but ends up being unbelievable. The story itself is plausible, if only barely; the right combination of pumps and levers probably could raise the Unknown Soldier's coffin, and in any case, part of the fun with the book is in finding out how it is done. That was the case with Godey's earlier The Taking of Pelham One Two Three--how in the world, the reader wants to know, could a group of men kidnap a subway car in New York...
With The Talisman, though, the fun of the plot becomes confused with the characters' politics. The coffin-nappers here are not simply crooks looking for a big haul, but political protesters, holding one national symbol for the ransom of another--but very different--symbol. The trouble is that just as the book is too serious to be taken as light fiction, it is too outrageous to be taken seriously by anyone...
Should the government release Francis Rowan, in exchange for the remains of the Unknown Soldier? While Booth and the others hide out on Cape Cod with the coffin, and the FBI launches the largest man-hunt in the history of the nation, Griese and the President realize that the American public wants its coffin back at any cost, even that of releasing an anti-war radical. Griese takes a quick helicopter trip to arrange the release with Rowan, and after some negotiation, the deal...
Meanwhile, back at the Cape, a paid FBI informer has tracked down the coffin. He gets together with the local police, and they decide to be heroes; they will capture the thieves themselves. From then on, it is only a matter of time before the book (and most of the movement members) ends in a fiery battle for the Unknown's remains...
...Coffin has a social background that should appeal to Riverside's wealthy supporters (the building is maintained by a $40 million endowment), and his social crusading should appeal to its growing black and Hispanic constituency. The main hesitation about Coffin was the fact that he is divorced from his first wife and separated from his second-still rare even for ministers in liberal churches. Asked about this at the congregational meeting, Coffin responded, "We don't learn from success. We learn from failures...