An obscenely wealthy businessman, who has a strange relationship with his adult daughter, is running for President of the United States and intelligence agencies fear that he may be a Soviet puppet. Sound familiar? No, these aren’t the Trumps. But in 1971, author Tom Ardies saw the future in a wild, political spy novel that has now become the perfect thriller for our time.
American spy Charlie Sparrow is assigned to infiltrate tech businessman Davis Berwick Marshall’s outsider campaign for President. The candidate’s man-hungry, widowed daughter has just returned from overseas and Sparrow bears a striking resemblance to her late husband. Sparrow hopes to leverage that resemblance to get into Lisa’s bed…and into the corrupt Marshall campaign. But can Sparrow reveal the truth before a possible Russian spy occupies the Oval Office?
Innovative, deft and entertaining.
A funny, but aptly brutal, 20th century novel.
The theme is interesting, the dialogue is brisk and sexy, the action is swift, and the tale is full of unexpected twists.
A compelling thriller, both prescient in its premise and a true product of its time. Inventive, witty, and eminently readable.
"Their Man in the Whitehouse" was written over fifty years ago and yet it could have been written for now, there are some uncomfortable parallels to the dysfunctional reign of Donald Trump as President. This is an intelligent and deeply intriguing story. This is a sharp novel, lean and cynical, witty and punchy. It’s slightly surreal, the world of the rich and even richer is strange, the characters are oddball but that just highlights the scary premise behind the novel. A spy story of extraordinary prescience.