About the Book
When shadowy gray market hustler and aspiring crony capitalist Jerzy Schroeder is murdered while Josie Kendall is hitting him up for a million dollars to help him cash in on alternative energy funding, the police suspect her of adultery and her husband, Rafe, of homicide. Josie, who works for Majority Values Coalition, an "activist fundraising organization,” is a new but passionate DC player. Suave Rafe, long a Washington insider, also a long a widower, is passionate about Josie. He’s on a new track as a literary agent and supporting Josie’s how-Washington-works learning curve.For Josie and Rafe, this isn't a murder investigation but a political damage-control problem. They attack the issue with an array of finely tuned skills: strategic leaks, manipulation of the media, judicious use of inside information, and a flexible attitude toward the truth—plus the assistance of Josie's Uncle Darius, a veteran spin doctor with surprising connections, who—luckily—is out on parole.They'll need a full arsenal, since, as one capital insider points out, "A damage control strategy that hasn't succeeded within thirty days has failed." Along the way, Josie, juggling plot lines, will have to decide whether there are ethical lines that even she won't cross.A proposal from Schroeder's ex-wife, Ann DeHoin, known as “The Gray Lady,” thanks to her wardrobe, shows Josie that she was (and probably still is) being gamed. To what end? The priority here is to figure out what the game is before the body count rises, while staying on mission at MVC, which gets money from people committed to a cause, spends part of it promoting that cause through channels like running ads, and keeps the rest.In this contemporary House of Cards scenario, determining who actually murdered Schroeder is a low-priority problem but Josie manages to do that as well. It's all in a day's (well, thirty days') work.
About the Author :
Michael Bowen, a graduate of Harvard Law School with a passion for politics going back to his pre-teens, offers in Damage Control his sixth political mystery and the first featuring Josephine Robideaux Kendall (a rascal and a scamp). His earlier D.C.-based series, beginning with 1990's Washington Deceased and continuing through Collateral Damage, focused on retired Foreign Service Officer Richard Michaelson. Josie Kendall, a twenty-something veteran of congressional staff work and now a promising money bundler is as different from Michaelson as contemporary Washington is from the capital as it was twenty-five years ago. A retired trial lawyer, Bowen lives in Fox Point, Wisconsin with his wife, Sara (also a Harvard Law School graduate and an occasional lecturer on Jane Austen).
Review :
Bowen's convoluted series kickoff, a political thriller, opens with a bang. As hard-driving D.C. fund-raiser Josie Kendall is leaving the Maryland home of wealthy Jerzy Schroeder, a client with whom she just enjoyed a little extramarital hanky-panky, a sniper shoots Jerzy dead, spattering blood and brain tissue on her DKNY blouse. When the police arrive, Josie says she has no idea who would want to kill Jerzy, though she can think of at least three. Jerzy was set to give a $1 million donation to Josie's employer, the conservative lobbying firm Majority Values Coalition. The police suspect that the killer may have been Josie's husband, Rafe, a long-time Washington insider turned literary agent, but that plot line fades away without resolution, as do several others. Still, Bowen (Service Dress Blues) has a good ear for dialogue and clearly knows the hobnobbing ways of D.C. power politics.-- "Publishers Weekly"
Harvard lawyer Bowen, a passionate political junkie, takes readers on a roller-coaster ride through D.C.'s underbelly. Josie Kendall, a fundraiser for the Majority Values Coalition, is in the process of obtaining a donation from an aspiring player named Jerzy Schroeder when someone guns him down with a high- powered rifle. Josie is a Washington newbie, but her husband, Rafe, is a well-connected insider and her Uncle Darius is a renowned spin doctor, recently imprisoned but now on parole. The police think that Josie and Jerzy were having an affair and that Rafe killed him for revenge. Josie and Rafe need to clear themselves and so immediately get to work manipulating the media while they investigate. When Jerzy's ex-wife, Ann, enters the picture with a proposal of her own, Josie realizes that she is the victim of a scam but cannot figure out why. Those who love House of Cards, and anyone following the current presidential campaign, will eagerly turn these pages.-- "Booklist"
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a convoluted plot and a sharp witty story in a political setting.--Beccy Stokes "NetGalley"
Scandal is one of my favorite shows, so I thoroughly enjoyed this book set in DC Washington and reading about the political wheeling-and-dealing! The book is very gripping and had me captured from beginning to end!-- "NetGalley"
