First published 2012
Richard Nixon's presidency unravels through the eyes of seven players caught in the Watergate web. From Camp David's private quarters to the Senate Caucus Room's blazing lights, the scandal consumes everyone it touches. The president's attorney general lives in the very Watergate complex that houses the Democratic National Committee offices his allies will burglarize. His fiercely devoted secretary guards secrets that could topple a government. A mysterious Mississippi operative distributes cash to keep the burglars quiet. Meanwhile, Theodore Roosevelt's razor-tongued daughter watches from her Dupont Circle mansion as Washington tears itself apart. Each character faces impossible choices as the cover-up spirals beyond control. Mallon transforms the "third-rate burglary" that brought down a president into an intimate human drama, revealing the personal costs of political loyalty and the weight of keeping dangerous secrets.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, political-thriller
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, secrets
Setting: Camp David, Dupont Circle, Senate Caucus Room, Watergate Complex
Period: 1970s
434 pages · Hardcover · Pantheon