The Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright

I could not help but think of our current political climate and the way the populace is manipulated by the message. Will his conscience, long silenced, win out? Will he win this election? Will he keep his job? Does he want to? I found this riveting and informative. As the novel progresses the reader begins to see signs that Dre isn’t so sure this is the right path for him. The fact that he’s a black man in a blue-collar white community in the deep south doesn’t deter him, though that does pose some challenges. He is a professional whose middle name may as well be “cutthroat,” and will take whichever side is paying his salary. He’s clearly intelligent and well-informed.

He has an assistant (who is the partner’s grandson, and completely green) and a limited budget. Sent to a backwater community in South Carolina, he’s tasked with passing an initiative that no one has even considered. But, his mentor agrees to give him one more chance. And it may end his career as a hotshot political consultant. Read moreīook on CD performed by Glenn Davis Andre Ross has made a mistake. As lines are crossed and lives ruined, Dre’s increasingly cutthroat campaign threatens the very soul of Carthage County and perhaps the last remnants of his own humanity.Ī piercing portrait of our fragile democracy and one man’s unraveling, The Coyotes of Carthage paints a disturbingly real portrait of the American experiment in action. Under Dre’s cynical direction, a land grab is disguised as a righteous fight for faith and liberty. Dre, an African-American outsider, can’t be the one to collect the signatures needed to get on the ballot. So he hires a blue-collar couple, Tyler Lee and his pious wife, Chalene, to act as the initiative’s public face. Fitz’s well-meaning yet naïve grandson Brendan as his team. The goal: to manipulate the locals into voting to sell their pristine public land to the highest bidder.ĭre arrives in God-fearing, flag-waving Carthage County, with only Mrs. Fitz, who plucked him from juvenile incarceration and mentored his career. She exiles him to the backwoods of South Carolina with $250,000 of dark money to introduce a ballot initiative on behalf of a mining company. Despite being a successful political consultant, his aggressive tactics have put him on thin ice with his boss, Mrs. I enjoyed it immensely.” -John GrishamĪ blistering and thrilling debut-a biting exploration of American politics, set in a small South Carolina town, about a political operative running a dark money campaign for his corporate clientsĭre Ross has one more shot. “With this splendid debut, Steven Wright announces his arrival as a major new voice in the world of political thrillers.

The Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright