The Good Lie

In this taut, convincing follow-up to 2017’s well-received Shining City, Rosenstiel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, takes the reader through the corridors of power of the nation’s capital with the surety of a Washington insider. When Gen. Brian Roderick dies in a terrorist attack on an American diplomatic outpost in Oosay City in the Republic of Morat, North Africa, President James Barlow Nash enlists the help of political fixer Peter Rena, a former Special Forces military investigator, to get to the truth, political consequences be damned. Unfortunately for Rena and his partner, Randi Brooks, they are stonewalled by the surviving victims of the attack, as well as high-placed government officials, with congressional committees and hotshot reporters eager to expose whoever is responsible on Rena and Randi’s flanks. As Rena gets closer to solving the crime, he must confront the uncomfortable possibility that the cover-up might just be the proper course of action to prevent far greater calamity. Political thriller fans will be more than satisfied. Agent: David Black, Black Agency. (Feb.)