A page-turning political drama with an unexpectedly tender heart…
A foster child turned Army private finds love, purpose, and himself while confronting institutional power in Rakow’s ambitious political thriller. Army Private Xavier King, a foster child searching for purpose, never expects his military service to uncover a secret Chinese bioweapon lab on American soil. As political pressure mounts and powerful institutions turn against him, Xavier must choose between protecting the life and love he has found with Audrey and standing by the truths he believes cannot remain hidden.
Rakow writes with absolute conviction, allowing the novel’s political concerns to emerge through Xavier’s deeply personal perspective rather than the mechanics of a conventional conspiracy thriller. Foster care, mentorship, romance, and public service occupy as much space as congressional hearings and geopolitical tensions, giving the story an unexpectedly intimate scale. At times, characters articulate ideas with an essayist’s precision, and philosophical conversations occasionally slow the narrative’s momentum, but they also reveal the author’s larger interest in exploring responsibility, family, and moral agency.
Readers may disagree with the novel’s politics, yet its emotional foundation remains remarkably consistent: a young man trying to create the stable home he never had while refusing to compromise the principles that define him. It is this tension between public conflict and private longing that gives the novel its distinctive voice.
An ambitious blend of political thriller, romance, and coming-of-age fiction that is as invested in character as it is in ideology; a stunner.
***
Manhattan Book Group
Pub date May 25, 2026
ISBN 978-1969572418
Price $36.99 Hardcover, $19.99 Paperback
