Jussi Adler-Olsen (The Scarred Woman, 2017) will take a break from his popular Department Q series to release a new standalone novel set in Washington. The book, due to unfortunate recent headlines involving mass shootings, has a timely plot — as gun control remains a heated topic within the United States. Adler-Olsen tackles that very issue in The Washington Decree. Read the full plot details below.
The New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of the Department Q series is back, with a terrifyingly relevant stand-alone novel about an America in chaos.
“The president has gone way too far. . . . These are practically dictatorial methods we’re talking about.”
Sixteen years before Democratic Senator Bruce Jansen was elected president of the United States, a PR stunt brought together five very different people: fourteen-year-old Dorothy “Doggie” Rogers, small-town sheriff T. Perkins, single mother Rosalie Lee, well-known journalist John Bugatti, and the teenage son of one of Jansen’s employees, Wesley Barefoot. In spite of their differences, the five remain bonded by their shared experience and devotion to their candidate.
For Doggie, who worked the campaign trail with Wesley, Jansen’s election is a personal victory: a job in the White House, proof to her Republican father that she was right to support Jansen, and the rise of an intelligent, clear-headed leader with her same ideals. But the triumph is short-lived: Jansen’s pregnant wife is assassinated on election night, and the alleged mastermind behind the shooting is none other than Doggie’s own father.
When Jansen ascends to the White House, he is a changed man, determined to end gun violence by any means necessary. Rights are taken away as quickly as weapons. International travel becomes impossible. Checkpoints and roadblocks destroy infrastructure. The media is censored. Militias declare civil war on the government. The country is in chaos, and Jansen’s former friends each find themselves fighting a very different battle, for themselves, their rights, their country . . . and, in Doggie’s case, the life of her father, who just may be innocent.
First of all, I have to say that the cover for Jussi Adler-Olsen’s new thriller is phenomenal. The red tones with the American flag front and center look fantastic, a little bit like something you’d see from Vince Flynn or Brad Thor.
Secondly, this is a book that’s likely to spark a bit of a debate, much like Stephen Coonts has done the last two years with Liberty’s Last Stand and The Armageddon File. Interestingly enough, the plot details point to both sides of the argument. The president in the book is a Democrat, while another main character is the daughter of a Republican who takes a job at the White House. We won’t know for sure how things shake out until it comes out on August 7th, but The Washington Decree sure seems like it has all the makings to be a book people will be talking about this summer.
Praised as “one of today’s finest book reviewers” by New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds, Ryan Steck is the editor-in-chief of The Real Book Spy, and one of the thriller genre’s most well-recognized critics. He currently lives in southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children. For more information, make sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook!