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The Days to Come

A Novel

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

A masterful political thriller from the author of Shining City 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.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 13, 2021
      In Rosenstiel’s solid fourth novel starring political fixer Peter Rena (after 2019’s Oppo), Rena and partner Randi Brooks swing into action when President David Traynor, previously a high-tech investor who favored disruptive technology, unexpectedly dies three months into his term. Vice President Wendy Upton, unsure of Traynor’s daring set of initiatives, keys in on his energy strategy, which involves a constitutionally questionable plan to fund four start-ups, all focusing on battery storage technology. Despite Rena’s personal troubles—his longtime girlfriend has dumped him and he’s being stalked online—he heads to the West Coast at Upton’s direction. His mission: determine whether the four small companies, in line to receive hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, have become espionage targets for the Chinese and Russians in the race for superior climate technology. This entry suffers from a slow start and too much navel-gazing and pouty behavior by Rena, but quickly picks up speed in the second half as it builds to a satisfying ending. Political thriller buffs will appreciate the beltway dealmaking, while spycraft lovers will enjoy the detailed look at the many ways that technology secrets get stolen. Agent: David Black, Black Agency.

    • Booklist

      September 15, 2021
      In the fourth Peter Rena novel (after Oppo, 2019), the political fix-it man is asked by the newly elected president of the United States, a man he barely knows, to help him make his ambitious plans for the country into a reality. For Rena, this means wading hip-deep into the political swamp and putting himself squarely in the sights of the president's enemies. As if this weren't enough, Rena is also receiving personal threats: someone is posting secrets on the internet about Rena's position, making terrible accusations about him. It all comes to a head when a tragedy rocks the White House and Rena's whole world appears about to come crashing down around him. Rosenstiel, a veteran journalist and former member of the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, is a terrific storyteller. Readers get the sense that he knows whereof he writes, that the details about politics and human behavior in his books come not merely from imagination but also from long experience. A perfect novel for fans of political intrigue.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Kirkus

      October 15, 2021
      Political consultants Peter Rena and Randi Brooks return for another thriller-cum-civics lesson following Oppo (2019). Having helped Wendy Upton clear her reputation and become vice president of the United States, Rena and Brooks find themselves in President-elect David Traynor's inner circle. Traynor is a Silicon Valley technocrat with big plans for the country, and in laying them out he functions as an advocate for Rosenstiel's own prescription for an American administration. This prescription is astute, but unfortunately it's laid out so comprehensively that it detracts from any element of thrill in the plot. In Rosenstiel's analysis, the key to saving the climate lies in energy storage--a better battery will make possible a large-scale shift to renewable energy sources. Traynor creates a secret battery-development initiative using private tech startups funded from national security sources; the effort is speculative at best, but the rewards seem to justify the political risk. Then Traynor dies, and Upton takes the helm. She's concerned that news of the initiative will leak and expose her administration to legal and political hazards, and she engages Rena and Brooks to assess how practical and how secure the program is; foreign individuals have also invested in the startups and may be acting as agents of competing powers. Rena, meanwhile, is suffering an identity crisis brought on by the breakup of his longtime relationship, and, in a somewhat superfluous subplot, Steph Myers, a wannabe conspiracy theorist, stalks him. None of these plot elements is compelling or substantial enough to carry the narrative. Plenty of astute analysis and innovative proposals but not enough narrative energy.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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