Cape Disappointment by Earl Emerson; 2009; 353 pages; Ballantine Books, New York, NY; 978-0-345-49301-9;4/22/09-4/23/09

Thomas Black and his wife, Kathy are working for opposite sides in the US Senate race in the state of Washington.  There is a ideological battle between the two camps and a hint of some spying.  Two of Thomas and Kathy’s friend are the Slezak brothers, and boy are these two a pair.  They would make a fascinating book in themselves.  One of the brothers warns Thomas not to let Kathy get on a plane with her candidate, just before it crashes into the ocean, with everyone aboard lost.  As Thomas deals with his grief he begins to investigate and finds greater and greater evidence of corruption, which begins to make him look like a crackpot.  As the media and government align to tie up lose ends Thomas is almost killed when someone tries to kill his candidate.  There are about a thousand red herrings and false trails and much weirdness afoot here, but Emerson makes it all makes sense.  The ending is very realistic, in that some things turn out for good and some of it still just plain suck.  RRRR