With the political season not taking a break, Ed Gorman’s mystery SLEEPING DOGS is a perfect respite from the headlines. Longtime political advisor Dev Conrad works for Sen. Warren Nichols, who is trying to hold onto his seat while his opponent Jim Lake seems to be gaining ground.

The novel opens with the two candidates about to have another debate, where things will change for everyone involved, once Nichols goes down from either a stroke or a heart attack. Lake comes off as the savior after trying to revive his opponent, but Dev believes that somebody might have screwed around with the dead’s drink.

Dev digs deep into the case, uncovering a web of lies and deceit. His first stop in his investigation is a confrontation with a political advisor named R.D. Greaves, who makes Karl Rove look like a choirboy. Greaves pleads innocent to what turns out to be a drugging of Nichols, only to tell Dev he has another card up his sleeve: a very recent videotape of the trusted senator and a young maid having a bit of a dalliance, with Greaves demanding $1 million as his payoff to keep things quiet.

This is all buildup in a tightly wound plot, with Gorman ready to drop another dead body into the thick of things. The story is so well-paced and well-executed, you wish it could last longer. Now, for longtime readers who think they can figure out the ending, you are so wrong, folks. Gorman’s clues are so well-hidden within the plot, you’ll rejoice that your time was not wasted.

So take a break from watching all the talking heads on TV who just regurgitate the same information over the political climate, and pick up SLEEPING DOGS — the antidote to all that hullabaloo. —Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
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• OUT THERE IN THE DARKNESS: THE COLLECTED ED GORMAN – VOLUME ONE by Ed Gorman
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• WOLF WOMAN BAY AND NINE MORE OF THE FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY NOVELLAS OF THE YEAR edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg