MATT RISEN HAS COME A LONG WAY from Marion, Ohio. After the turbulent, controversial election of 2000, the up-and-coming press secretary victoriously takes his place in an inscrutable White House of backstabbing careerism and cutthroat politics led by the straight-talking, conservative President William Kensington. Attracted to success and pressured by his superiors-including Stephen Shay, the brilliant, quick-tempered advisor who can tip the scales of an election like the butchers of old-Matt and his ambitions collide with love, family and ethics on a perilous journey of self-discovery in...

MATT RISEN HAS COME A LONG WAY from Marion, Ohio. After the turbulent, controversial election of 2000, the up-and-coming press secretary victoriously takes his place in an inscrutable White House of backstabbing careerism and cutthroat politics led by the straight-talking, conservative President William Kensington. Attracted to success and pressured by his superiors-including Stephen Shay, the brilliant, quick-tempered advisor who can tip the scales of an election like the butchers of old-Matt and his ambitions collide with love, family and ethics on a perilous journey of self-discovery in...