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Summary
Summary
As a seasoned political consultant, Dev Conrad approaches working on the reelection campaign of Illinois Senator Warren Nichols with trepidation. The senator's best friend and adviser has just committed suicide. And though Conrad agrees with Nichols's political positions, he's leery of the senator's reputation for sleeping around.
When a major televised debate proves to be a disaster for the senator, Dev is forced to look into the backgrounds of the senator's staff, which includes several people who have tangled and troubled relationships with their boss.
Dev's investigation takes him through the highs and lows of the political system, the well-meaning people on both sides of the aisle, and the increasingly dark forces that work to destroy reputations and lives. It also leads him into the frightening murder of a sleazy political op who knows something about Senator Nichols that could completely destroy his career.
Ed Gorman is the author of several political thrillers, including the acclaimed The Marilyn Tapes and The First Lady . In Sleeping Dogs , he looks at how money, power, and unchecked ambition have turned election campaigns into modern gladiatorial contests.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Shamus-winner Gorman (Fools Rush In) puts his experience as a political speechwriter to good use in this entertaining first of what appears to be a new series. Dev Conrad, a cynical yet idealistic political consultant, signs on for the re-election bid of Sen. Warren Nichols of Illinois after Nichols's longtime consultant and ally, Phil Wylie, leaves in a bitter dispute with the candidate and later commits suicide. Nichols, facing right-wing conservative Jim Lake, finds himself in a tightening race with a major debate looming. The race becomes nasty with dirty tricks, blackmail and even campaign sabotage likely emanating from inside Nichols's staff. While Gorman presents our electoral choices and processes in an often dispiriting and unflattering light, readers will hope his appealing hero will return in future outings beyond the current real-life political campaign season. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The re-election campaign of an Illinois Senator heats up when his serial fornication tangles him in murder. When his political consultant, Phil Wylie, commits suicide, Senator Warren Nichols hires Dev Conrad to take his place. And just in time, too, because somebody uncomfortably close to the campaign is about to sabotage Warren's televised debate against Jim Lake in an exceptionally nasty and inventive way. Hard-nosed Dev thinks the power behind this latest dirty trick may be Lake's legendary dirty trickster R.D. Greaves. But Greaves has bigger fish to fry, as he indicates when he demands $1 million for a videotape that proves conclusively that Warren's bed-hopping past extends to the present. Warren swears he can't come up with that much cash; Greaves insists he won't take a penny less. Dev, stuck in the middle, is preparing to offer Greaves a fraction of what he's demanding when his plans are suddenly changed by the news that Greaves has been murdered. Now his headache over whether he can bargain Greaves down is replaced by a much bigger worry: What's happened to that tape? The setup, characters and mystery are all standard fare. But veteran Gorman (Fools Rush In, 2007, etc.) provides rewardingly dry-eyed political savvy without the bloat of most novelists who patrol this turf. The prose is pared so close to the bone that it makes Elmore Leonard look positively garrulous. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
During a debate with his conservative opponent, Illinois senator Warren Nichols begins to slur his words and eventually collapses on stage. Nichols survives and is found to have been surreptitiously drugged, but the rumor mill has him back on the bottle. Dev Conrad, a political hired gun carefully nurturing what's left of his idealism, is confident he can pull Nichols through the incident. He's less sure of his ability to weather a blackmail scheme in which a renowned dirty trickster is threatening to circulate a tape of the senator having a fling with a woman, who is willing to come forward. Dev reluctantly assumes the role of bagman, delivering a million dollars to the blackmailer, but when he arrives at the drop, cops are swarming, and the blackmailer is dead. Now Dev must find the missing tape, find the woman in the tape, and try to salvage a political campaign swirling out of control. Calling on his background as a political speechwriter, Gorman, author of the wonderful Sam McCain mysteries, effectively blends crime fiction with cynical political commentary. Great entertainment.--Lukowsky, Wes Copyright 2008 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Swindling, sinning, blackmail, and murder-just another day in American politics. Multiaward winner Gorman lives in Cedar Rapids, IA. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.