Stevie‘s review of The Washington Decree by Jussi Adler-Olsen translated by Steve Schein
Political Thriller published by Dutton 07 Aug 18
I continue to have a fascination with books originally published in other languages, although in some cases the delay between original publication and eventual English translation means the story is no longer quite contemporary. Once in a while, the passage of time makes the central issues more, rather than less, relevant to the times we are currently living. Jussi Adler-Olsen’s The Washington Decree is a perfect example of that. Published in Denmark ten years ago, it tells of what happens when a US President is allowed to take total control of the judicial process, in order – he claims – to improve the lives of all his citizens.
Democrat politician Bruce Jansen wins the Presidential election, but tragedy strikes during the celebrations when his pregnant wife is shot and killed by an employee of the party’s host. With the killer also shot dead, suspicions are raised that he was working, if not on the instructions, at least under the influence of his boss, a man who had outspokenly opposed Jansen before offering to host his party as a concession to his estranged daughter Dorothy ‘Doggie’ Rogers, a long-term member of Jansen’s team.
Doggie first came to Jansen’s attention as one of three quiz winners picked to accompany the then Governor of Virginia on a trip to China, a visit on which Jansen’s first wife was killed in a random act of violence. Following the trip, Doggie has kept in touch with her two fellow contestants, as well as others now working for the President or in high-flying journalistic careers. All of them are shocked by the arrest of Doggie’s father, but that’s nothing to their feelings of horror and disbelief as the President puts in motion a series of decrees ostensibly aimed at reducing crime and creating full employment, but actually seriously restricting the freedom of law-abiding people and increasing the rate at which murderers are executed by the state.
As politicians and ordinary people oppose the President’s proposals, more and more restrictions are placed on the press. Coincidentally, the greatest political opponents and their families become victims of apparently unconnected violent sexual crimes and terrorist attacks. Doggie and her friends, separately and in coordinated investigations, discover links between the various crimes and wonder if someone is masterminding events in order to push the US to the brink of civil war. As they get close to the truth, their lives are placed in danger; and with Doggie’s father’s execution growing ever closer, the friends are forced to go into hiding in order to save as many lives as possible.
I enjoyed this book a lot. At times it felt that the author had absorbed a lot of knowledge about US culture and norms without picking up on all the nuances. For instance, the racial make-up of the cast and background characters seems to be vast majority white, minority black, and with no other ethnicities showing up until one small walk-on by two Latinos towards the very end of the story. There were a few loose ends too, but overall this felt far too real for comfort, particularly in the later chapters.
Grade: B
Summary:
“The president has gone way too far. . . . These are practically dictatorial methods we’re talking about.”
Sixteen years before Democratic Senator Bruce Jansen was elected president of the United States, a PR stunt brought together five very different people: fourteen-year-old Dorothy “Doggie” Rogers, small-town sheriff T. Perkins, single mother Rosalie Lee, well-known journalist John Bugatti, and the teenage son of one of Jansen’s employees, Wesley Barefoot. In spite of their differences, the five remain bonded by their shared experience and devotion to their candidate.
For Doggie, who worked the campaign trail with Wesley, Jansen’s election is a personal victory: a job in the White House, proof to her Republican father that she was right to support Jansen, and the rise of an intelligent, clear-headed leader with her same ideals. But the triumph is short-lived: Jansen’s pregnant wife is assassinated on election night, and the alleged mastermind behind the shooting is none other than Doggie’s own father.
When Jansen ascends to the White House, he is a changed man, determined to end gun violence by any means necessary. Rights are taken away as quickly as weapons. International travel becomes impossible. Checkpoints and roadblocks destroy infrastructure. The media is censored. Militias declare civil war on the government. The country is in chaos, and Jansen’s former friends each find themselves fighting a very different battle, for themselves, their rights, their country . . . and, in Doggie’s case, the life of her father, who just may be innocent
Read an excerpt.
