May | 2019 | Chosen Words

Alex Shepherd, writing in New Republic this past week (‘Book Publishers Have a Trump Problem‘), notes and discusses the economic factors constraining big publishers, and the trap it presents. As he states:

NewRepub.Trump “Publishers are doing what everyone else in the news media has done for the past two years. Trump’s ability to sow constant chaos and shift attention toward himself is unparalleled…

“The result is an industry addicted to the quick Trump fix—and an industry that is rapidly moving away from one of its seminal strengths…the long lead times and production work that go into book publishing are meant to allow for added value and perspective.”

The Imogen Trager NoirPolitik thrillers, Faithless Elector and Dark Network are not about Trump, but they are about this political moment. They embody the “added value and perspective” Shepherd finds lacking elsewhere. We did not suddenly fetch up here, orphans of some storm out of the blue, but as always, step by step. The Imogen Trager thrillers have the added value and perspective that comes not from reporting, but from imagining what would happen if…

In the novels, the conspirators are ruthless and focused where the current administration is lazy and scattershot; are canny and adept, where the real occupants are foolish and clumsy. The implications are chilling.

In Faithless Elector, which introduces FBI Analyst-turned-Agent Imogen Trager, a clandestine group operating outside the major parties tries to steal the presidency by manipulating the Electoral College vote, exploiting for the sake of fiction a weakness that remains all-too factually latent. In Dark Network, Imogen returns. The FBI is leaking, the Attorney General is being undermined, politicians are spinning and social media is in an uproar. The presidency is still up for grabs.

In Emergency Powers (coming soon!) we get a look at who’s pulling the strings and what their endgame is. If you crave perspective, if you want a look behind the circus noise, check out the Imogen Trager novels.

Emergency Powers is making the rounds of agents and editors right now. Let’s hope it IS coming soon!

Look for the other Imogen Trager thrillers at: Indybound.org. They are also available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Powell’s Books.

James McCrone is the author of the Imogen Trager NoirPolitik thrillers Faithless Elector and Dark Network. The third book, working title Emergency Powers, is coming soon.

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Link to REVIEWS

If you live in Philadelphia, pick up copies at Head House Books -or- Penn Book Center or in Princeton at Cloak & Dagger Books.

For a full list of appearances and links to reviews, check out:

JamesMcCrone.com

Emg.Powers-capitol The latest NoirPolitik Imogen Trager thriller, Emergency Powers–even more so that my earlier books Faithless Elector and Dark Network–focuses on the clandestine, not-so-cold battle between power hungry conspirators and Imogen’s FBI team.

Excerpt from Emergency Powers – (Imogen’s friend and colleague, Amanda Vega, tries to get a handle on what’s going on):

“Until recently, Vega’s experience of casework had been decidedly one-sided. She had known only the righteous, powerful sensation of drawing ever closer to the truth, the hunter pursuing the hunted. But this case was different. The prey fought back. Strikes at these operatives were met not with capitulation—or even retreat—but by counterattacks, flanking maneuvers, rearguard actions.

Her friend Imogen, she felt certain, was the latest casualty.

Was it worse than that? she wondered. Did her notion of this investigation as a war extend to espionage and double agents? As she flew home, staring out the window at the country unrolling below, she wondered if the killing was starting again? Had it ever stopped? And what was the meaning of Imogen’s note ?

Just-Secure.Collusion-Rangappa Asha Rangappa, together with Alex Finley, and the aptly named John Sipher, reposted their article about intelligence gathering from JustSecurity.org recently: Collusion Doesn’t Have to be Criminal to be an Ongoing Threat, from December 2017, in which they detail the ways intelligence agencies gather information and “assets.” It makes for chilling reading, particularly with regard to the opportunism of intelligence officers, and the slippery slope of compromise. It jibes with the background research I did as I worked on the book.

Emergency Powers delves precisely into this world, taking a deep dive and a realistic look at how assets engaged in an anti-democratic power grab might behave. The key to the dark network conspiracy (decidedly homegrown in this instance), is that it be small, adroit, nimble. I’m suspicious of secret armies of henchmen (see here); and the key to the conspirators’ success here is that the numbers of those involved, as well as the communications between them all, be minimal. The thriller examines how the conspirators’ recruitment and training.

“Three may keep a secret,” Ben Franklin opines from the pages of Poor Richard’s Almanac–and the epigram for the book–“if two of them are dead.”

In Emergency Powers, the pendulum of control has swung decisively. If Imogen fails to stop them, it might never swing again. And as the final pieces are moved into place the loyal operatives begin to wonder whether they will receive their just–or their eternal–reward.