Monday, February 22, 2010

The Butcher's Thumb: Update 1

The scintillating upcoming novel by Greg Haas, The Butcher's Thumb, is in the final stages of production with an anticipated release of late April 2010.  Stay tuned to this site for updates, or subscribe (to the right) for automatic updates!

Here's a summary of what this exciting novel is all about:


Filled with political intrigue and insight, The Butcher’s Thumb charts the young career of up-and-comer Matt Risen from his role as the campaign spokesperson for the straight-talking conservative William Kensington, governor of Colorado, in the 2000 presidential election all the way to his fall from grace as the White House press secretary.  In the tradition of a roman a clef, the plot and themes of The Butcher’s Thumb examine how fictional characters would deal with events that are familiar, sometimes painfully so, to us all.

After a turbulent, controversial election recount in the battleground state of Matt’s native Ohio, he victoriously takes his place in an inscrutable White House of back-stabbing careerism and cutthroat politics.  Nicknamed “God’s Will” by his ardent supporters, the seemingly incompetent Kensington defers to his senior staff:  the imposing Vice-President Dixon Webb; Stephen Shay, the brilliant political advisor with a quick temper and a love for scotch, power, and the shadows of government; and Gail Turner, a D.C. insider with a forked-tongue and grand ambitions, who begins the novel as Matt’s lover of convenience.  But life throws him another change-up:  the lovely, liberal photojournalist Kris Johansen, who frees him even as she tests his loyalties and beliefs. 

Though terrorist attacks on U.S. soil are thwarted—in part because of Risen’s diligence—the Kensington administration still seizes the opportunity to pursue its foreign policy goals in the Middle East.  Undaunted by the media, and a cool manipulator of words who drips with charm, Matt is forced to make the case for war in Iraq, and to defend the administration from clear-headed opponents—at any cost.  Matt is a good guy, educated and intelligent, with a weakness for women and the bright lights of fame.  Yet he believes in protecting his family and country.  Can job, duty and love be balanced with ethics and morals? 

Meanwhile, in Russia, an ex-K.G.B. agent named Yuri Nesterenko is haunted by the murder fifteen years ago of his team in Florence, Italy.  He sets out to take his revenge in a sub-plot which collides with our hero and his family: when Matt succumbs to internal pressure and reveals the name of a C.I.A. operative who has spoken out against the Kensington administration, national policy turns into a personal nightmare just weeks before the all-important re-election in 2004, which again seems to rest on the shoulders of Ohio.

A substantial yet compelling and page-turning read, The Butcher’s Thumb takes on a number of relevant issues:  foreign policy in the Middle East and abroad, the outing of a covert government agent, the manipulative rhetoric of war and politics, and the subtle combat waged during elections to tip the scales like the butchers of old.  The issue is balance—between the personal and the political, between national and international interests, between the past and an unforeseeable future lurking with the unintended consequences of our present actions.