Deep Background

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

An intricately plotted debut novel by the Washington editor of the Nation magazine (The Blond Ghost: Ted Shackley and the CIA's Crusades), this inside-the-Oval-Office political thriller resurrects vestiges of JFK, LBJ, RMN and the present-day WJC administration with impressive authenticity. On the eve of the (unspecified) party convention, President Hanover, the shoo-in candidate for a second term, is assassinated at a White House press conference while his close personal aide Nick Addis and the horrified world watch on TV; the assailant then takes poison. Caught between supporting the feckless VP-now-prez or the power-hungry newly widowed ex-First Lady, Addis takes refuge in an assignment to fly to New Orleans and squelch some ugly rumors about a tainted land deal that took place while Hanover was still governor of Louisiana. Meanwhile, lone wolf CIA internal watchdog Julia Lancette stumbles onto a possible link between the shooting and an obscure deep cover unit of agency assassins, and is menaced by shadowy figures as potential witnesses start to die. Determined to discover the assassin's identity, Clarence Dunne, the disgraced White House chief of security, eventually crosses paths with Lancette and Addis as, separately, they are led deeper into a complex web of intrigue and deceit. Pressure for Addis to choose political sides intensifies. Dunne is wounded and Addis joins forces with Lancette as they attempt to trace a paper trail to the nameless assassin. As its labyrinthine plot unfolds, the tale takes on unexpected dimension, and Addis and Lancette are drawn toward a violent, edge-of-the-seat denouement. Corn hits the mark with this chilling look at ugly ambition inside the Capital Beltway. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

In a novel that may well contain the most electrifying car chase ever, Corn has created a monumental scandal-thriller laden with telling allusions to current public figures and totally inside-the-Beltway dirt. In this first novel, Corn, the Nation's Washington editor, demonstrates a gift for noticing in microscopic detail the coincidences that lead to scandals and the malfeasances that lead to death. A principled CIA analyst female, a White House adviser WASP-y, and a Secret Service guy African American form an unlikely alliance to track down a presidential assassin. It's a harrowing quick-step through deceit and its sticky clutches. This book is bound to be popular with readers who love the buzz and the buzz saw of Washington; essential for most libraries.--Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.