Today it's a pleasure to take a part in the BlogTour Deep State by Chris Hauty. It's a cracking read.
Chris Hauty is a screenwriter who has worked at all the major movie studios, in nearly every genre of film. He currently lives in Venice, California, in the company of a classic Triumph motorcycle and a feral cat. Deep State is his first novel.
Follow @ChrisHauty on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Visit chrishauty.com, Buy Deep State
About the book
Hayley Chill isn’t your typical West Wing intern. Ex-military and as patriotic as she is principled, she is largely vilified by her peers and lauded by her superiors – it’s a quick way of making enemies.
It is Hayley who finds the body of the White House chief of staff, Peter Hall, on his kitchen floor having died from an apparent heart attack. It is also Hayley who notices a single clue which suggests his death was deliberate, targeted. That he was assassinated.
Unsure who to trust, Hayley works alone to uncover a wideranging conspiracy that controls the furthest reaches of the government. And Hall is just the beginning – the president is the next target.
Hayley must now do the impossible: stop an assassination, when she has no idea who the enemy is, all while staying hidden, with Peter’s final words to her ringing in her ears: Trust no one. Because the Deep State will kill to silence her. And they are closing in.
It is entrenched. It is hidden. It is deadly.Who can you trust?
I have to be honest. It was a pleasure to read a political action thriller with a strong woman as the protagonist. A military veteran and an excellent boxer, who is as smart as a whip and cool as a cucumber when it counts. Hayley Chill is the new woman in town.
When Hayley starts her internship at the White House the last thing she expects is to be accidentally drawn into a conspiracy to bring the man in charge down. She certainly isn't going to stand by and watch it happen. Her training and her conviction to protect, honour and serve make her the kind of opponent the opposition should fear, and yet they underestimate her instead.
What I really liked about this premise was the way Hauty shows his readers the flip side of the coin. The president is a threat to the world and to America. He lacks diplomacy skills, he acts on instinct instead of taking a moment to think and he doesn't mind making enemies out of his allies, whilst befriending enemies of the state. Sound familiar?
Right, now hold your horses because this story isn't another sanctimonious we need to save the world from the biggest threat the world has ever seen, ergo POTUS, scenario. Instead Hauty makes the so-called saviours the Deep State and the game is afoot to save the President.
I thought that was a clever way of putting politics and power struggles as we are experiencing them at the moment into a different perspective. If you believe in the sanctity of the office and the position then surely if you serve at the pleasure of the President you have no choice but to protect him, right? Or do you try and save the country? Which choice makes you a traitor?
It's a political action thriller with a woman at the helm of the ship.
For a debut novel this is remarkable. The storyline is on point, the characters are genuine and the political divisiveness mirrors real time events, opinions and emotions. It's an incredibly clever way of shining a light on the other side of the fence, especially when that fence has driven a wedge between the people, their identity and everything the country was built upon.
And if I wasn't clear - it's a cracking read.
Buy Deep State at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK; pub date 23 January 2020 - Hardback - £12.99. Buy at Amazon com.
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