From Publishers Weekly
Picking up where Mackerel by Moonlight left off, this wryly amusing and cleverly plotted D.C. political novel by former Massachusetts governor Weld features all the hijinks and close-to-unethical behavior one now expects from the Washington elite. Newly elected senator Terry Mullally, fresh from his Mackerel adventures, is getting a crash course in Politics 101. Two Southern senators, Happy Gilliam of Texas and Anson Vivian of West Virginia, are plotting runs for the presidency, and each is looking for backing from the freshman senator. First, Mullally falls under the influence of the exuberant Gilliam, then becomes much closer to Vivian, taking meditative weekends at Vivian's country home in Big Ugly, W.Va. The dilemma of deciding whom to supportAand a few rookie mistakesAback Mullally into a tough corner. But even before he figures out how to extricate himself, an old friend and colleague from his DA days is appointed the new head of the Justice Department's criminal division. Although good-natured and quick-witted, Mullally has been no saint. How much does his old friend know about his dealings with the Chinese mafia and the death of a corrupt cop? Or about the circumstances that led to Mullaly's marriage to the widow of a murdered businessman? Everything threatens to fall apart when Mullally is contacted at his office by criminal Olie Wing, who knows abou Mullally's past transgressions. Matters get worse when Mullally and his wife are invited by the vice-president, Martha Holloway, to enjoy a retreat at Camp David. While there, Mullally catches Gilliam having an affair with the daughter of Gilliam's best friend, a Supreme Court Justice, and later is witness to a heated conversation between the v.p. and a major lobbyist. Clever word play and a knowledge of the law help Mullally keep his head above water, defend Holloway against an extortion charge, and take the right tack with Gilliam. At the end of this intelligent, energetic and somewhat cynical novel, no one's the wiser but MullallyAwho, as he says, can "still aspire to the highest offices in the land." (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Six months into his tenure as the junior senator from Massachusetts, Terrence Mullally is on the brink of failure. The 35-year-old politician has already had a high-powered career as a criminal prosecutor in his native Boston, but once inside the beltway, he gets shmoozed and shellacked by a parade of Washingtonians, including two senatorial powers with presidential ambitions (one with a home in Big Ugly, WV), lobbyists, and the vice president (who, not surprisingly, has presidential ambitions of his own). Mullally falls for their cordiality and subtle bribes and sinks into the muck of dirty politicsAbefore he rallies and pulls himself out. Former Massachusetts Governor Weld, whose best-selling first novel, Mackerel by Moonlight, featured Terry as an assistant U.S. attorney, has again delivered a suspenseful, hilarious book filled with real people (with real problems) and crystal-clear depictions of politics at its best and worst. For all fiction collections.
-ABarbara Conaty, Library of Congress Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
