The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations is a 2018 book by American politician John McCain and his frequent collaborator and former staff member Mark Salter.

Making reference to one of the subjects of the book, McCain writes of President Donald Trump:His lack of empathy for refugees, innocent, persecuted, desperate men, women, and children, is disturbing.

[8] The audiobook version, which runs 14 hours 15 minutes,[9] is mostly read by actor Beau Bridges,[10] with McCain only strong enough to record the introduction and conclusion.

[1][6] On his final page, McCain returns to the model of the Ernest Hemingway character he calls his hero, Robert Jordan of For Whom the Bell Tolls.

[15] According to The New York Times, "One of the striking aspects of this new book is how often McCain—who says his dire medical prognosis leaves him 'freer' to speak his mind and vote his conscience 'without worry'—insists on playing it safe.

The six-term senator from Arizona slips in a few careful mentions of Donald J. Trump, and expresses concern about the rancor that has overtaken the country, but he generally stops short of calling out the president or his cabinet, issuing just a brief eyeroll at the 'thoughtless America First ideology' now ascendant in the White House.

"[3] In contrast, ABC News declared that "In his memoir, McCain has blistering criticisms of Donald Trump's presidency, from his lack of empathy for immigrants and refugees to his praise for 'some of the world's worst tyrants.

"[16] Industry stalwart Publishers Weekly opined, "Despite flashes of the 'straight talk' for which McCain has become known, this book meanders into navel-gazing detail and sometimes skirts meaningful examination.

McCain lists President Trump's moral and political failings, but hedges ... Rather than a response to extraordinary times, this fine memoir reads more like a requiem of a long, patriotic life.

"[18] Jason Hamill of The American Community Journals localized chain concluded, " All said the book reads as the man's final chance to set the record straight on a myriad of tough political decisions over the last several decades of his incredible career.

"[19] Terri Schlichenmeyer of The Pantagraph of Illinois wrote, "Like nearly every political biography ever released, there's a lot of chest-thumping and assertions of correctness inside The Restless Wave, and astute readers will note more than just a little repetition.

Moreover, though, this book fairly rings with a sense of leave-taking that, despite what we know, imparts an oddly-faint feeling of surprised disbelief not unlike losing a distant relative you barely knew.