Rating: 
Summary: A fun, cynical book. Buy the paperback edition.
Review: This book is a slam-bang masterpiece of political cynicism. But unless you're a collector with a need to own first editions, buy the paperback rather than the hardcover: it adds four chapters that help tie up loose ends and it gives the author a chance to poke fun at himself, among others: "I had written three mysteries with a 'series' character. Although they had -- where the hell are you going to find a writer to refrain from saying this -- great critical success, they had not been nearly as popular as I thought they ought to be. I was in search of the formula for greater commercial success.... I resolved to do two things -- get away from the series and become more centrist. Less humorous. Less cynical. Less thoughtful. Less intelligent." Readers (and reviewers) who complained that the private-eye thread of this book's dual storyline was merely conventional have missed the point: Beinhart isn't rewriting Mickey Spillane, he's updating Machiavelli. Beinhart's previous books are also worth seeking out.
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