When this thriller opens only eleven months before the general election, an unusual number of candidates are already dropping out—and dropping dead. Republicans and Democrats have been dying, both from unexpected and undetected health problems and from more suspicious accidents. But when an idealistic young politician suddenly dies from an apparent heart attack in Hawaii, Lt. Lisa Higashiguchi of the Honolulu Police Department is on the case.

With victims from both parties and from across the ideological spectrum, a motive seems elusive, but with such high-profile deaths, an alphabet soup of dark-suited agencies is jockeying for control of the investigation. Can Higashiguchi solve the case before the outcome of the election is printed in the obituaries and American democracy is buried for good?

Michael S. Koyama’s third book takes the reader behind the scenes of Washington’s power brokers and the East Coast’s wealthy kingmakers before reaching a gripping denouement that is both totally unexpected and frighteningly real.