About the BookReflecting our own world like a volatile funhouse mirror, Winter Warning lures us back to the 1980s, an era that could have been ripped right out of our most recent political upheaval. Isaac Sidel should have been vice president, banished to some far corner of the West Wing, but the president-elect has been forced to resign or face indictment for his crooked land deals—and Sidel becomes the accidental president. He’s a maverick, a crusader with a Glock in his belt, who defies both the Republicans and the Democrats. He seems haunted by Lincoln’s ghost, and the presidential palace becomes his own “great white jail,” as it did for Harry Truman. There’s never been another president quite like Isaac Sidel, New York’s former police commissioner and mayor. There’s a secret lottery created by some bankers in Basel to determine the exact date of Sidel’s death. And Sidel has to outrun this lottery in order to save himself. His greatest allies are not the Secret Service or the DNC, but a former Israeli prime minister who was a explosives operative during the British occupation of Palestine . . . as well as a mysterious billionaire who belongs to a brotherhood of killers and counterfeiters. His only companions in the capital are the captain of his helicopter fleet and a sexy naval intelligence officer who realizes that something has gone amuck at Camp David, when a band of mercenaries arrive with their sights trained on Sidel.
My Review
A fool.
An orphan.
A hopeless romantic.
A loose cannon.
The Jewish St. Francis.
Those aren't the typical titles one usually assigns to the President of the United States, but Isaac Sidel is not your usual president. In fact, he wasn't even elected, he's nothing but an afterthought of a V.P. upgraded by default.
As a former New York City cop, he's certainly a Washington outsider - a tough guy who's not about to change his habits no matter what his advisers tell him. He "glocked" his way to become the first Yid in the White House, and he's not about to start wearing an Armani suit in order to fit in with the political elite.
He scares insiders because he can't be bought or sold. He's not in office for his own personal gain, and that approach doesn't win him any friends on the Beltway. So it's not surprising when his presidency quickly turns into a catastrophe. He's warned, "You can offer the illusion of change, nothing more. That's why you're such a threat. You believe in your own beliefs."
In a town that doesn't believe in anything or anyone, he's now everybody's favorite child, pampered, protected, bullied and buffeted. He walks around with the doomsday codes, and yet he's told to grow invisible if he wants to survive.
This would confound anybody - president or not - but it's even more frustrating for him since the public openly admires his primitive way of connecting with them. And now that he's finally in a position to do something to help them, his hands are tied. He's a president who doesn't listen to the markets, who talks about redeeming the poor. And for the powers that be, he's not only a child, he's a child they can't afford. If he refuses to stick to the script he's given, then that leaves him with zero chance of survival.
Sidel has no political grace. He has no friends. He's isolated and alone. He can't trust anybody. But he doesn't let it stop him, even after they dub him the Ghetto President. However, he begins to turn things around, when he starts to play to his strengths, not caring if he's become a soft target or not.
All he has to do is remind himself, "Do ya know how many bad guys I had to whack to get where I am?"
Now that's the real Isaac Sidel.
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Winter Warning can be purchased at:
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Prices/Formats: $25.95 ebook, $25.95 paperback
Genre: Political, Espionage, Thriller
Pages: 256
Release: October 1, 2017
Publisher: Pegasus Books
ISBN: 9781681773483
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About the AuthorJerome Charyn published his first novel in 1964. He's the author of Johnny One-Eye, The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson, I Am Abraham, and dozens of other acclaimed novels as well as nonfiction works. His short stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Paris Review, American Scholar, Epoch, and Ellery Queen. Charyn's popular crime novels featuring homicide detective Isaac Sidel inspired a new animated drama series: Hard Apple debuts on the small screen in 2017, helmed by Hollywood insider James Gray (The Immigrants) and illustrated by famed artists Asaf and Tomer Hanuka. Charyn lives in Greenwich Village, New York.
Links to connect with Jerome:
Web Site
Facebook (author)
Twitter (author)
Facebook (Isaac Sidel)
Twitter (Isaac Sidel)
Goodreads
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