For most of the past year, I’ve been hawking my fourth and most recent novel, Pirates of Sausalito.
But this month, I’m pitching my first novel, Bones in the Wash: Politics is Tough. Family is Tougher. Set during the 2008 presidential campaign in New Mexico, Bones is one part political thriller, one part family soap, and one part murder mystery.
If you’re interested in politics and presidential campaigns, but feel overwhelmed by the news of the day, you might enjoy a fictional escape. Bones is full of dirty tricks, sleazy voter suppression, and the like, but it feels downright innocent from today’s vantage point.
(Speaking of innocent, I admit that in 2008 I believed that if the voter suppression tactics were exposed as what they were — attempts to limit voting by people who were more likely to vote for Democrats — that they would be discredited. How naive I was.)
Bones is free — as an ebook — this coming week. From June 16-20. (You can buy it as a paperback for $13.70.)
Here’s what some readers said. (Full disclosure. The first two are friends.)
★★★★★ Entertaining and addictive!
Freedom! Now I have choice back for how I spend my free time, after 5 days of being enmeshed in this compelling story. Congratulations to my friend, J.B. Barry on this wonderful novel! I was actually a bit surprised, since it’s been a while since I wanted to read fiction, and even longer since I picked up a political thriller. And then, drawn in from the very beginning, I found myself “addicted,” reading after breakfast, on my commute, again after lunch and more before I turned the lights off to sleep over the last few days. —Roy Schachter
I was going to cut this one because it’s long, but once I reread it, I thought, no, I want you to read the whole review. 🙂
★★★★★ Crime, Romance, and Republican Dirty Tricks on the Presidential Campaign Trail
This is one of those unusual novels where you end up talking about the characters as if you knew them well—which itself makes for a wonderful read.
The setting is the 2008 presidential campaign in New Mexico, complicated by the romance, rage, and lives of two fabulously dysfunctional families.
From one family is the charming young Hispanic mayor of Albuquerque, Tomas Zamara, chair of the New Mexico Republicans for John McCain. From the other comes the astute, attractive, a tad plump but sexy Sierra Léon, an activist in a liberal nonprofit, who has been tabbed by her organization to run its campaign for Barack Obama in her native New Mexico.
Drawing on his own role in political campaigns, Barry deftly evokes a realistic sense of the heady thrills of a campaign, one that is sabotaged by Republican dirty tricks.
Sierra’s group bites back, once with a hilarious mock demonstration by “Billionaire Lobbyists for McCain,” complete with signs for NAARP, the National Association for the Advancement of Rich People, and other sarcastic taunts.
As the subtitle says, “Politics Is Tough. Family Is Tougher.” Zamara gets tangled in an affair with an attractive and brilliantly horny woman, Tory Singer, while he’s trying to rearrange some skeletons locked in the family closet. His autocratic father and his now-dead wife (it’s her bones in the wash) had cut shady deals with drug dealers and money launderers, which demands some deft maneuvers from Tomas.
As for Sierra, she has to cope with her depressive mother, her narcissistic dad, her cad of a boyfriend, and a reporter who’s desperate to get into her panties.
Zamara turns out to be the most interesting character, though some will not find him believable, because he’s a Republican who actually has integrity! —Bob Schildgen
★★★★★ Five Stars
I didn’t want to have to put the book down when I had to. —CACW
★★★★★ Great writing, great story, great characters . Read this book. — Nathanial Winter
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