Customer Reviews

Politics Noir: Dark Tales from the Corridors of Power

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Thirteen authors contribute to the above basic theme. Politics can be for the most part a shady game. And there are few clean purists who make it to top. Whether an appointed senate seat may be for sale to the highest bidder or if the sleaze may be contained to the local community level. Several of the stories I found interesting were: Negative Nixons by Mike Davis which details an imagined encounter between the former President and J. Edgar Hoover; Ambition by Michele Martinez about an indispensable political aide who always was thinking of the best spin; Madam Secretary's Lover Man by Jake Lamar which was the story of an artist who did a painting of Condoleezza Rice and was ultimately sexually rewarded by her and then disposed of;Collateral Damage by Robert Greer in which a female presidential candidate had an Obama like presidential candidate assassinated with a twist that endangered her own candidacy; The Mayor's Movie by Sujata Massey about a regressive Iman in Ahmedabad who enforced strict Islamic standards but was set up to fall by his interest in porn; Swift Boats For Jesus by Gary Phillips about small town power and election fixing; The Legend Of Bayboy And The Mexican Surfer by John Shannon tells about the lives and deaths of an unlikely duo--a young Mexican immigrant laborer and a young white boy from a wealthy family who had picked up HIV. Though this final story did not in my view conform to the basic political theme of the book. The editorial message was pretty straight from the political left. But still made for a good fairly quick read.

This thriller anthology, a collection of 13 stories digs down into everything that is deep, dark and dirty about politics, everything you ever suspected was at the secret heart of this second oldest profession. Stories by well-known authors like Twist Phelan, Black Artemis, Gary Phillips and Pete Hautman are here, and many of the writers have multiple published novels and are book award winners.

The stories themselves pull no punches, such as:

"Negatives Nixons," by Mike Davis, the tale of an alleged photograph showing you-know-who in a compromising position with the former FBI Director.

"Madam Secretary's Lover Man;" by Jake Lamar, a story giving Condi Rice a secret (and fatal) taste for lovers; along with other stories with more obvious fictional themes

"Pork," by Pete Hautman, about the battle of wills between a stubborn architect and a determined artist in designing a public building

"Ambition" by Michele Martinez, where a new political PR aide will do anything to get ahead--until she runs into an old master of the game

"The Mayor's Movie" by Sujarta Massey--about the disenfranchised women of an Muslim town, who strive to be rid of an oppressive imam.

Politics Noir has just about every kind of plotting, scheming, dirty trick known to the profession--and what surprised me was the use of well-known names in some of these stories. They lend an air of reality and immediacy. The anthology is published by Verso "an imprint of New Left Books," as it says inside the cover, so I guess you can see where they're coming from.

Anyway, for those who like to get to the seamy underside, and read about everything they've ever suspected was wrong with politics, this is the book for you.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

This was a major waste of cash.

The stories are poorly written, shallow, and far too short to allow for anything like a developed plot or interesting characters. Completely predictable in terms of politics to boot.

Don't bother.