About the BookReflecting our own world like a volatile funhouse mirror, Winter Warning lures us back to the 1980s, an era that could have been ripped right out of our most recent political upheaval. Isaac Sidel should have been vice president, banished to some far corner of the West Wing, but the president-elect has been forced to resign or face indictment for his crooked land deals—and Sidel becomes the accidental president. He’s a maverick, a crusader with a Glock in his belt, who defies both the Republicans and the Democrats. He seems haunted by Lincoln’s ghost, and the presidential palace becomes his own “great white jail,” as it did for Harry Truman. There’s never been another president quite like Isaac Sidel, New York’s former police commissioner and mayor. There’s a secret lottery created by some bankers in Basel to determine the exact date of Sidel’s death. And Sidel has to outrun this lottery in order to save himself. His greatest allies are not the Secret Service or the DNC, but a former Israeli prime minister who was a explosives operative during the British occupation of Palestine . . . as well as a mysterious billionaire who belongs to a brotherhood of killers and counterfeiters. His only companions in the capital are the captain of his helicopter fleet and a sexy naval intelligence officer who realizes that something has gone amuck at Camp David, when a band of mercenaries arrive with their sights trained on Sidel.
My Review
Some presidents break the mold. Isaac Sidel is one of those presidents. And it's not long before the first Jewish president becomes everyone's favorite target.
Take for example the following offhand remark: "What does it feel like to ferry the big Jew around? Does he recite his evening prayers in a yarmulke?" Little respect is shown for the new commander-in-chief. The Secret Service can't protect him. His chief of staff ignores him. There's a civil war brewing in his cabinet. And oh yeah, there's an underground lottery out there betting on the exact date of his death.
And just who's running this lottery? A group of bankers, looking to get even richer. With his enemies ready to eat him alive, it's open season on Isaac Sidel.
Is it just because he's Jewish? Not necessarily. Their defiance and abandonment is fueled by more than just anti-Semitism. He's a danger to the establishment because he doesn't care about money or power. His campaign promises mean something to him, he never meant for them to become lies. Yet he's mocked by those seeking to bring him down, "Sidel's a dreamer. He'll turn Yankee Land into one big welfare state. All our holdings will be flushed into the toilet. We can't afford him."
Yet Sidel, an ex-police chief, isn't ready to go down without a fight. He's not about to let his presidency disappear down the black hole of politics. He doesn't care if he's their currency, their bait. In his mind, the only one who's going to determine his fate is him, regardless if their rate of exchange is currently being measured in spoonfuls of his blood.
For Isaac Sidel, his heartbeat is not negotiable, and boy, oh boy, in the latter half of the book does he ever turn the tables on them.
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Winter Warning can be purchased at:
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Biblio
Prices/Formats: $25.95 ebook, $25.95 paperback
Genre: Political, Espionage, Thriller
Pages: 256
Release: October 1, 2017
Publisher: Pegasus Books
ISBN: 9781681773483
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About the AuthorJerome Charyn published his first novel in 1964. He's the author of Johnny One-Eye, The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson, I Am Abraham, and dozens of other acclaimed novels as well as nonfiction works. His short stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Paris Review, American Scholar, Epoch, and Ellery Queen. Charyn's popular crime novels featuring homicide detective Isaac Sidel inspired a new animated drama series: Hard Apple debuts on the small screen in 2017, helmed by Hollywood insider James Gray (The Immigrants) and illustrated by famed artists Asaf and Tomer Hanuka. Charyn lives in Greenwich Village, New York.
Links to connect with Jerome:
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Facebook (Isaac Sidel)
Twitter (Isaac Sidel)
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