The American novelist Elmore Leonard once explained that he sought to “remain invisible when writing a book” so he could “show rather than tell what’s taking place in the story.” Journalist Tom LoBianco did not take this approach in writing Piety & Power, his biography of Vice President Mike Pence. Indeed, this is not so much a book about Mike Pence as one about LoBianco’s view of Pence. And Tom LoBianco evidently does not like Mike Pence.

LoBianco’s manifest distaste for Pence obscures what is otherwise an informative account of the vice president’s enigmatic personality, earnest religious convictions, and hard-won political ascendancy. While President Trump’s volatile temperament is daily on display in his tweets, Pence appears reserved, formal, and somewhat calculating. Love or hate Trump, many Americans feel like they understand him by now. Pence seems indecipherable by comparison. Is he a pathetic errand boy, futilely trying to keep up with Trump’s erratic behavior? Is Pence the Svengali of the administration, pulling the levers of power, as many believed Dick Cheney did under George W. Bush? Or is he basically a decent man and traditional politician who occasionally becomes a bit queasy on Trump’s roller-coaster ride?