First published 2000
Frank Skeffington stands before another crowd of supporters, his voice still commanding after decades as mayor of an unnamed New England city. At seventy-two, he faces what he knows will be his last election. The old Irish political machine that carried him to power is crumbling around him. Television changes how campaigns work. The ethnic neighborhoods that formed his base are shifting. Younger politicians circle like vultures. His nephew Adam Caulfield watches from the sidelines as Skeffington battles not just his opponents but the end of an era. The mayor refuses to soften his sharp tongue or abandon the backroom deals that built his career. He campaigns with the same fierce energy that made him a legend, even as friends desert him and enemies multiply. This final race becomes more than politics for Skeffington. It represents his struggle to remain relevant in a world that no longer needs him.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, political-science, political-thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: end-of-an-era, unreliable-narrator
Setting: New England
Period: 20th Century
437 pages · Hardcover · Amereon Ltd