(2004)First book read of this author. Very good thriller that takes off from the start but does not get over the top. Story is of a Senate staffer that gambles on small obscure items being added to large bills. It turns out to be a life & death struggle as Harris Sandler & Vivian Parker try to find out just what the abandoned mine sale added to the bill is and why are people being killed because of it.

Matthew Mercer y Harris Sandler participan en un misterioso juego del que casi nadie conoce su existencia; ni sus amigos, ni sus compañeros de trabajo, ni, naturalmente, sus jefes, que son algunos de los congresistas y senadores más poderosos del Capitolio. Con cada apuesta aumentan el riesgo, la recompensa, el misterio y la excitación de saber que, sólo por el hecho de ser invitado a participar, te convierte en un traficante de poder en Washington. Pero, como Matthew y Harris no tardarán en descubrir, el Juego del Cero oculta un secreto tan explosivo que podría sacudir Washington hasta sus cimientos. Matthew muere, y también alguien muy allegado a ambos. Harris comprende que lo que parecía ser un puro entretenimiento, es algo mucho más siniestro de lo que jamás hubiera sido capaz de imaginar. Y no cabe duda de que él será la siguiente víctima.

Political suspense-thriller set mostly in Washington D.C. in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Two Capitol Hill staffers are playing a game involving betting on Congressional voting outcomes for minor legislation. The game turns deadly, a teenage page becomes involved, and the protagonists search for explanations while evading a hired assassin. While thrillers are not my normal fare, I selected this audio book to pass the time while traveling. I enjoyed a portion of the book, but had some issues with other parts.

The positives:
• The beginning included some interesting information about how legislation gets passed.
• One of the protagonists was a young black female. She was written as a strong character, and it was easy to root for her. It was nice to see a young woman of color featured prominently in a book published in the early 2000s.
• The friendship between two protagonists was refreshing, as there are few novels that include friendships between a two people of the opposite sex without throwing in a romance.
• It did the job in terms of keeping my brain occupied during the trip, which made the drive seem shorter.
• Flashing back to the time of widespread use of Blackberries and pagers was amusing.

The negatives:
• The plot contained many holes, which were never adequately explained.
• There seemed to be lots of filler in the form of long stretches of narrative that didn’t lead anywhere or move the plot forward.
• The narrative shifted from one character to another unnecessarily.
• The ending proved unsatisfying.

The audio book was read by Scott Brick. He did a good job of giving different voices to the characters, both male and female. He was easy to understand and follow.

Contains graphic violence and profanity.
( )

I enjoy dumb thrillers, so this initially seemed promising. But the plot was Swiss cheese. ( )

The story: A young staffer at Capitol Hill takes part in a "game". The game is to trick senators and house members into doing something publicly, without knowing they've been tricked. The game presumably started innocently enough, with a senator saying something in a speech that was not supposed to be part of the speech. As this story opens, the challenge is to insert something into a bill that will become law. The little insertion is the approval of the sale of an old non-functioning mine in a small desert town in the west. A private company wants to buy the mine and is willing to clean up environmental damage left behind by the original, so it appears to be an easy yes.

Especially easy because our first staffer, Matthew, is in a unique position to get the mine sale into the bill. It's part of his work to play give-and-take with other staffers - you let this one in and I'll give you yours, that sort of thing. So Matthew and his idol, Harris, are excited to play this game and expect to make big bucks on it.

However, it isn't long before Matthew notices something odd and follows his instincts. His instincts take him out of the game and get Harris wondering. Meanwhile, by accident a senate page, Viv, happens along at a convenient time and Harris enlists her for help in uncovering what is starting to look like a deadly situation.

Harris and Viv are soon on the run, to the mine to find out more, away from bad guys, many of which they cannot identify. Unfortunately, one of the bad guys figures out where they have gone and heads out after them.

The plot thickens. People are killed, Harris and Viv run headlong into danger, and it takes a talk with a scientist to figure out what secrets the mine is hiding.

A good page-turner with a whole lot of inside information. Learning how things are done, in great detail, on Capitol Hill was one of the unexpected pleasures for me. The research made a big difference in how real the story seemed, in spite of obvious improbabilities. ( )