March 31, 2015

Allan Topol's 'The Washington Lawyer' abounds with Beltway skullduggery

Allan Topol's "The Washington Lawyer" focuses on a senator involved in a tryst. (SelectBooks)

By Patrick Anderson

Pity the poor political novelist. After all the real-world skullduggery of recent decades -- Nixon's Watergate, Clinton's intern -- how can fiction possibly compete with reality?

Washington lawyer Allan Topol can't beat those odds, but in "The Washington Lawyer" he's given us a lively insider's portrait of political mischief featuring a senator who is a traitor and perhaps a murderer, a nominee for chief justice of the Supreme Court who is desperately trying cover up his own misdeeds and a gang of Chinese spies eager to bribe or, if necessary, kill our politicians to obtain the Pentagon's innermost secrets.

Political fiction wasn't always this dark. Allen Drury, whose "Advise and Consent" (1959) remains one of the most admired novels of Washington politics, respected the Senate (which he had covered as a reporter) and thought our government was swell, at least if those pesky "better red than dead" liberals who populate his books could be beaten back. But after Vietnam and Watergate, many novelists grew cynical -- or realistic, some would say.

James Grady's "Six Days of the Condor" (1974) featured rogue CIA agents who imported drugs and killed people who threatened them; Edward Stewart's "They've Shot the President's Daughter!" (1973) imagined a Nixon-like president who had his daughter attacked to shore up his political support; my own "The President's Mistress" (1976) offered a presidential affair and coverup and moved certain journalistic elders to declare presidential infidelity unthinkable and the author of such a work clearly depraved; Michael Halberstam's more genial "The Wanting of Levine" (1978) proposed an as yet untested way out of the political wilderness: the first Jewish president.

Topol, who has written 10 previous thrillers, stands with the pessimists in this outing. His story begins with 55-year-old Sen. Wesley Jasper relaxing on a beach in Anguilla with his gorgeous 34-year-old staff member and mistress. They drink wine, she puffs on a joint, they rejoice over their energetic sex life, and finally she demands his promise to divorce his wife and marry her. He reluctantly vows to do so after his reelection the next year. She sensibly doesn't believe him and warns that she secretly recorded a compromising conversation he had with a Chinese official and that unless he marries her she'll ruin him. Although furious, the senator repeats his promise to make an honest woman of her, whereupon she goes for a moonlight swim.

The scene shifts to an elegant Washington dinner party in a mansion on Foxhall Road. Host Andrew Martin is a Washington lawyer who is a front-runner to replace the retiring chief justice. His equally distinguished guests include the (female) secretary of state and the speaker of the House. The dinner recalls all those scenes in Drury's novels where everyone in sight is a towering mover and shaker.

Trouble strikes. Martin takes a call, hoping it is the White House informing him of his nomination. Instead it's his old friend Sen. Jasper, calling from Anguilla to explain in near-hysterics that his girlfriend has drowned; he says he tried to save her and has her body on the beach. We learn that Martin owns the beach house the senator has borrowed for his love nest. The senator begs for help, lest he be ruined by scandal, and rejects the lawyer's advice to call the police and report an accidental drowning. Finally, impaired by several glasses of wine, Martin agrees to call an influential friend on the island who can fix things. As a result, Vanessa's body is moved elsewhere, and the police buy into a cover-up.

Enter the dead woman's more virtuous twin, brainy archaeologist Allison Boyd, who smells a rat and hastens to Washington to seek the truth. Soon she, Sen. Jasper and some bloodthirsty Chinese spies are all searching for the recording that would prove the dead woman's charge that the senator had accepted millions of dollars from the Chinese government in exchange for U.S. military secrets. (He claims to need the money for his reelection campaign, but why does he turn to the Chinese? Why not to the Koch brothers, generous fellows who ask nothing at all in return for their largesse?)

"The Washington Lawyer" has its faults -- occasional clunky dialogue and improbable events -- but it moves along nicely. He deftly portrays office politics at a major law firm, as partners compete with one another and associates vie for the partners' favor as they dream of making partner themselves. The novel flirts but never fully engages with an important issue: the way people atop the political heap can be corrupted by their hunger for ever more money and power. Ideally, the novel would focus not on Allison but on Martin, the would-be chief justice, who unwisely tries to help a friend and soon sinks deeper and deeper into a moral quagmire. His struggle deserves more serious treatment, but Topol's version is entertaining and at times has the ring of truth.

Patrick Anderson regularly reviews mysteries and thrillers for The Washington Post.

March 23, 2015

Washington Lawyer Reviews

THE WASHINGTON POST
"Book World" section reviewed THE WASHINGTON LAWYER on Monday, March 16.
"Pity the poor political novelist. After all the real-world skullduggery of recent decades -- Nixon's Watergate, Clinton's intern -- how can fiction possibly compete with reality? Washington lawyer Allan Topol can't beat those odds, but in "The Washington Lawyer" he's given us a lively insider's portrait of political mischief featuring a senator who is a traitor and perhaps a murderer, a nominee for chief justice of the United States who is desperately trying to cover up his own misdeeds and a gang of Chinese spies eager to bribe or, if necessary, kill our politicians to obtain the Pentagon's innermost secrets ... .Topol's version is entertaining and at times has the ring of truth."

"THE JIM BOHANNON SHOW" (NATIONAL)
Producer welcomed an in-studio interview on March 19 to discuss the book and related topics such as Chinese Spies in the US. Jim is heard on about 450 stations and is still considered among "The 100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America" by Talkers Magazine.

EXAMINER.COM (rank 642)
Book reviewer requested a copy of the book for review and posted on March 17.
""The Washington Lawyer" is filled with intrigue, treason and blackmail. There are lots of twist and turns that keep the plot moving"

FRESHFICTION.COM (rank 51, 405)
Review Editor requested a copy of the book for consideration and posted details about the book and also a review on March 4.
"THE WASHINGTON LAWYER is a fast moving thriller from a very articulate writer. A tangled web showing the corrupt and selfish Washington elite and the tarnished government officials that will stop at nothing to reach their goals and pay any price to succeed. You can't put this spy-adventure down until the last thrilling pages."

OUTNUMBERED3-1.COM (rank 56,658)
Blogger requested a copy of the book for consideration, has since posted on February 11.
"For book lovers it does not get much more exciting than a new book coming out by one of your favorite authors... I first discovered Allan Topol last year and I have continued to be impressed with his works ever since. The suspense in his novels feels so incredibly real in my mind that I am unable to put the book down because I am so anxious to see how it ends. In his latest book coming out in March you are taken deep into Washington D.C. high stakes politics and scandal"

BOOKREVIEWSANDMOREBYKATHY.COM (rank 1,427, 871)
Blogger posted details about the book a review on March 17.
"The Washington Lawyer is a well-written political thriller with a large cast of interesting characters. Allan Topol expertly weaves topical issues with an intriguing mystery and the resulting story is riveting. An unexpected plot twist late in the novel demonstrates how even the most ethical person can be swayed when personal ambition and a thirst for power becomes more important than truth or justice."

BETHSBOOKREVIEWS.COM
Blogger posted a review on March 19.
"Overall this is a thoroughly enjoyable, beautifully written story full of twists and turns and incredibly believable (if unlikable) characters.  I flew right through the story desperate to find out what happened next and hardly blinking the entire time.  I definitely highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys political thrillers as you are virtually guaranteed to enjoy it.  I am eagerly awaiting the author's next release!"

TILLIE49 (rank 7, 263, 873)
Reviewer and radio host Fran Lewis posted on March 19.
"Author Allan Topol goes deep inside the halls of the Senate, the President's office, inside the law firm of Andrew Martin allowing readers to learn just how deals are made, deceptions are created, illusions are perceived or interpreted and huge smoke screen is lived."

MYSTERYMAVENBLOG.COM (rank 11,202,771)
Blogger requested a book for review and posted a review on February 9.
"The Washington Lawyer" by Allan Topol.  I have read and liked Topol's thrillers in the past, and this one is no exception.  In fact, I find Topol's new work chillingly realistic and plausible."

February 11, 2015

The Washington Lawyer Review At Outnumbered 3 to 1

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Fiction Book Review: The Washington Lawyer by Allan Topol

The Washington Lawyer

Allan Topol, Author

Topol (The Argentine Triangle) successfully portrays the panicked terrors of that Washington staple, the public figure trying to escape a scandal by lying his way out of trouble. Sen. Wesley Jasper has slipped off to the island of Anguilla for some "mind-blowing sex" with his beautiful mistress, Vanessa Boyd, who announces that he had better marry her or she'll go to the Washington Post with a CD she's recorded of him having a meeting with a Chinese secret agent. Wesley retaliates by drowning Vanessa. To cover up the crime, he enlists the help of his friend, Washington power lawyer Andrew Martin, who loaned Wesley his beach house for the tryst. Martin, who's in line for a seat on the Supreme Court, knows that if this gets out he'll be pulled from consideration, so he calls friends on the island for assistance. Meanwhile, Vanessa's plucky twin sister, Allison, has decided that the cover story of accidental death is a lie and throws herself into an investigation to find her sister's killer. The story follows familiar patterns, but Topol ties up all the loose ends, and all the principals, except poor Vanessa, get what's coming to them. Agent: Pam Ahearn, Ahearn Agency.