Fast-paced, provocative, and impossible to put down…
A kidnapped school board candidate, a missing intelligence operative, and a conspiracy reaching far beyond local politics drive MacCarthy’s sprawling political thriller. After reform candidate Adam Tanner disappears before a pivotal San Diego election, retired black-ops specialist Ivan Samsonoff uncovers a covert network involving political insiders, intelligence operatives, and foreign interests determined to control the future of American education. Stranded in the Allegheny wilderness, Tanner must survive long enough to expose the truth before Election Day arrives.
The novel blends espionage, survival adventure, political intrigue, and family drama into an ambitious contemporary thriller. Physically imposing, highly intelligent, deeply loyal, and burdened by unresolved grief, Ivan emerges as the emotional and psychological center of the story. Less mysterious and more publicly exposed, Tanner functions as the catalyst around which the novel’s political conflict revolves—a reformer whose campaign makes him the target of a deadly conspiracy. Tanner’s speeches often serve as ideological centerpieces, giving the novel an unmistakably urgent political voice. At the same time, the emotional core remains the Samsonoff family, particularly Ivan’s loyalty to his missing brother and his memories of lost love Violetta Hidalgo-Brunet. The Afghanistan-set prologue is especially effective, establishing the novel’s intelligence backdrop with genuine suspense and cinematic tension. MacCarthy balances scenes of wilderness survival and action with discussions about public education, unions, parental rights, and institutional corruption. While the political commentary occasionally slows the pacing, the story’s conviction, scale, and dramatic energy keep the pages turning.
An ambitious thriller packed with intrigue, danger, and contemporary political anxiety.
***
Outskirts Press
Pub date February 11, 2026
ISBN 978-1977288554
Price $21.95 (USD) Paperback, $9.99 Kindle edition
