It is the year 2020 and Australia is a republic with a President joining the Prime Minister at the helm of the country, although as with the Governor General before, the President is supposedly merely a figurehead, a rubberstamp when it comes to the question of running the country.

Peter Elphinstone, ex-test cricketer and President of Australia is far from satisfied with the way the country is being run. Prime Minister Bill Packard is far from pleased with the President sticking his beak into matters that shouldn't concern him. When the Australian ambassador to Syria is assassinated, the PM is all fired up to join the US in sending troops to the Middle East should America ask him. Elphinstone, on the other hand, is horrified that a war could be about to start and moves to stop the possibility. Technically the President has the authority to affect such a decision, the big question is, does he have the power?

It's his willingness to have this question answered that ignites the political fireball here. The problem lies in the form of Kate Asquith, the President's lover and a known Marxist who seems to have planted the idea to challenge the Prime Minister's authority in Elphinstone's head, and not necessarily for noble reasons. If Australia's support in international issues can no longer be relied upon, then Australia becomes an unreliable ally and no use to anyone. Further, the Prime Minister loses all credibility. In short something, or someone, has got to give.

The remainder of the story revolves around the head to head battle between Packard and Elphinstone as the entire seat of government is threatened. In short, it's a plot that's long on words and short on action.

On the face of it, this is a fascinating hypothetical scenario for a nation who has been making grumblings about becoming a republic for quite some time now. The question of just who would run the country is taken to an extreme with lengthy political maneuverings following. But herein lies the problem for me. Once the enticing prospect of a good old-fashioned stoush had been laid out before us, it was begging to be followed up by some sort of diabolical solution that you could appreciate and applaud. Unfortunately none ever eventuates and I felt the story petered out with a whimper rather than a bang.

At times the plot becomes very convoluted as a bewildering number of characters are introduced, figures who hold various governmental positions that I found difficult to keep straight. The exact roles of some of these characters within the story was also rather obscure. Consequently the significance of a conversation between, say, the Prime Minister's secretary and the President's secretary may have had tremendous relevance but I found that it got lost in the noise of all the other meetings, discussions and conferences that we are bombarded with.

Pathway To Treason is a slow to build political thriller that spends a lot of time examining possible outcomes and very little on actually delivering them. By the time I reached the ending, there was more a sense of relief that I made it rather than a satisfied release of built up anticipation.