Editorial Content for The Days to Come
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Reviewer (text)
Political fixers Peter Rena and Randi Brooks return in THE DAYS TO COME, Tom Rosenstiel’s sequel to 2019’s OPPO. Like its predecessor, this gripping thriller explores high-tech issues against the backdrop of DC intrigue.
After helping Republican Wendy Upton clear her reputation and thereby win the vice-presidency on a bipartisan ticket, Rena and Brooks are now part of President-elect David Traynor's inner circle. Traynor, a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur, has ambitions to save the planet, while ensuring that the U.S. remains an energy powerhouse. His secret plan is to fund tech companies that are exploring battery development, and his architect is Colonel Kim Matsuda, a brilliant scientist. That he undertakes this without any oversight is justified by his belief that rivals like China and Russia will move more quickly if they get wind of this initiative.
"[F]or those who enjoy political intrigue, THE DAYS TO COME is an absorbing read."
However, shortly after being sworn in, the dynamic, optimistic President dies. Upton assumes office and takes over the secret project. Concerned that her administration might be exposed to legal and political challenges, she brings in Rena and Brooks to assess how much it will cost, what its chances of success are, and how secure the program is. Silicon Valley is, it appears, replete with foreign investors and tech workers who are involved in the startups and may be acting as agents of competing powers.
Meanwhile, a subplot involving Rena, who is being smeared in order to disrupt his investigation, allows Rosenstiel to delve into how social media and the dark web can ensnare and then weaponize believers --- and how difficult it is to uncover the players and their motivations.
Rosenstiel is adept at exploring all facets of a topical issue, but at times the multiple plots, which unfold in chapters that each highlight a specific character, distract the reader from the narrative flow. Still, for those who enjoy political intrigue, THE DAYS TO COME is an absorbing read.
Teaser
Billionaire entrepreneur David Traynor has big dreams for fixing a broken government in his first term as president of the United States. Everyone in the capital is scrambling to adapt to the new disruptor in chief’s bold agenda, though many also want to see him fail. Unsure of whom he can trust, Traynor intends to turn to an unusual group of people to advise him, including the savvy and sometimes ruthless DC fixers Peter Rena and Randi Brooks. Though he is at the height of his career, Rena finds his world in chaos. When malicious, untraceable cyberattacks related to his past start seeping from the dark corners of the internet, his doubts overwhelm him. Then an unpredictable tragedy throws the country into crisis, and he must come out of his stupor.
Promo
Billionaire entrepreneur David Traynor has big dreams for fixing a broken government in his first term as president of the United States. Everyone in the capital is scrambling to adapt to the new disruptor in chief’s bold agenda, though many also want to see him fail. Unsure of whom he can trust, Traynor intends to turn to an unusual group of people to advise him, including the savvy and sometimes ruthless DC fixers Peter Rena and Randi Brooks. Though he is at the height of his career, Rena finds his world in chaos. When malicious, untraceable cyberattacks related to his past start seeping from the dark corners of the internet, his doubts overwhelm him. Then an unpredictable tragedy throws the country into crisis, and he must come out of his stupor.
About the Book
A masterful political thriller thrusts veteran Washington fixers Peter Rena and Randi Brooks into a dark world of cyberattacks, a new era of foreign espionage, and a risky, classified plan to save the world from environmental disaster.
Billionaire entrepreneur David Traynor has big dreams for fixing a broken government in his first term as president of the United States. In the months before his inauguration, he’s developed daring and, in some cases, secret strategies to solve the climate crisis, force Congress to work again, and rebuild America’s economy --- and that’s just the beginning. Everyone in the capital is scrambling to adapt to the new disruptor in chief’s bold agenda, though many, both at home and abroad, also want to see Traynor and his steely vice president, Wendy Upton, fail. Unsure of whom he can trust, Traynor intends to turn to an unusual group of people to advise him, including the savvy and sometimes ruthless DC fixers Peter Rena and Randi Brooks.
Though he is at the height of his career, Rena finds his world in chaos. His personal life is a mess; he wonders if his work --- saving powerful people from their mistakes --- has become too cynical. When malicious, untraceable cyberattacks related to his past start seeping from the dark corners of the internet, Rena’s doubts overwhelm him. Then an unpredictable tragedy throws the country into crisis, and he must come out of his stupor.
If Rena wants to help the new president salvage American politics, he will first have to reckon with his own demons and come to grips with a world far different from the one he once believed in. With the government and the country polarized and on the cusp of enormous change, Tom Rosenstiel’s THE DAYS TO COME is a clever, gripping thriller and a cogent meditation on how to heal a divided country.
Audiobook available, read by David Colacci
