Editorial Content for Shining City
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Reviewer (text)
The plot line is simple: SCOTUS candidate meets mayhem in DC. But this thriller about Supreme Court nominee Edmund Roland (“Rollie”) Madison and his sometimes ambivalent quest for confirmation unfolds with plenty of twists and turns, not all of them political.
There’s plenty of politics, though, and for many readers, that’s the draw of SHINING CITY, a debut novel by Tom Rosenstiel, a former national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.
"Along with strong plotting, Rosenstiel does a good job of describing the grandstanding that takes place behind the scenes and on the Senate floor..."
President Jim Nash, a Democrat, picks Judge Madison, an iconoclastic candidate whose positions make both parties wary, as his Supreme Court nominee. He asks Washington “fixers” Peter Rena and Randi Brooks --- one Republican, the other Democrat --- to investigate and then prep the candidate. Rena, an ex-army investigator, and Brooks, a lawyer, work well together but have very different theories about why Nash chose them and what Madison’s candidacy represents. Rena believes that the candidate, a federal judge, is hiding something and insists on tracking down his college classmates to find the truth. Brooks believes Madison is too independent for the President to support, but dutifully preps him for his Senate hearings. The process is made easier by the presence of Madison’s daughter, Vic, who is a savvy lawyer in her own right.
Meanwhile, a serial killer has literally set his sights on Madison, though why he is obsessed with the judge is at first unclear. It is also the part of the book that, paradoxically, propels the page-turning even as it tethers the story to a more predictable plot. Ex-con Robbie Johnson shares a past with the judge that Rena must uncover before Johnson kills again. As he is closing in on his prey during the judge’s Senate confirmation hearings, new revelations surface about their mutual history. The denouement, while long anticipated, is masterfully orchestrated, with a satisfying outcome for all.
Along with strong plotting, Rosenstiel does a good job of describing the grandstanding that takes place behind the scenes and on the Senate floor, and he deftly handles his characters’ ambivalence about doing the right thing in the face of political expediency. His two protagonists, Rena and Brooks, work well as a team and are likely to surface again. That’s something to eagerly anticipate.
Teaser
Peter Rena is a “fixer.” He and his partner, Randi Brooks, earn their living making the problems of the powerful disappear. They get their biggest job yet when the White House hires them to vet the president’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Judge Roland Madison is a legal giant, but he’s a political maverick, with views that might make the already tricky confirmation process even more difficult. Rena and his team go full-bore to cover every inch of the judge’s past, while the competing factions of Washington, D.C. mobilize with frightening intensity. All of that becomes background when a string of seemingly random killings overlaps with Rena’s investigation, with Judge Madison a possible target.
Promo
Peter Rena is a “fixer.” He and his partner, Randi Brooks, earn their living making the problems of the powerful disappear. They get their biggest job yet when the White House hires them to vet the president’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Judge Roland Madison is a legal giant, but he’s a political maverick, with views that might make the already tricky confirmation process even more difficult. Rena and his team go full-bore to cover every inch of the judge’s past, while the competing factions of Washington, D.C. mobilize with frightening intensity. All of that becomes background when a string of seemingly random killings overlaps with Rena’s investigation, with Judge Madison a possible target.
About the Book
A polished and gripping political debut that Michael Connelly calls “an edge of your seat thriller,” SHINING CITY is set in DC amid a harrowing Supreme Court nomination fight.
Peter Rena is a “fixer.” He and his partner, Randi Brooks, earn their living making the problems of the powerful disappear. They get their biggest job yet when the White House hires them to vet the president’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Judge Roland Madison is a legal giant, but he’s a political maverick, with views that might make the already tricky confirmation process even more difficult. Rena and his team go full-bore to cover every inch of the judge’s past, while the competing factions of Washington D.C. mobilize with frightening intensity: ambitious senators, garrulous journalists, and wily power players on both sides of the aisle.
All of that becomes background when a string of seemingly random killings overlaps with Rena’s investigation, with Judge Madison a possible target. Racing against the clock to keep his nominee safe, the President satisfied, and the political wolves at bay, Rena learns just how dangerous Washington’s obsession with power --- how to get it and how to keep it --- can be.
Written with razor-sharp political insight and heart-pounding action, SHINING CITY is a hugely impressive debut that announces a major new talent.
Audiobook available, performed by David Colacci
