Inside The Beltway Fiction

The Good Lie – Tom Rosenstiel (ECCO)

Tom Rosenstiel literally wrote THE book on journalism, in the form of Elements of Journalism, and has been a inside the Beltway observer for decades from his perch at the American Press Institute, so it’s not surprising that he has created a series of fiction reads that balance DC insider knowledge and insights into the newspaper/media industry.

The second installment in the Peter Rena/Randi Brooks political fixers series The Good Lie offers up storyline that, while it shows similarities to the Benghazi situation, also features an insider knowledge of the comings and goings of the very political side of Washington.

Rena, a former military investigator who went onto a career as a Senate staffer who hung out his shingle as a consultant, is one of those memorable characters, smart, with a gruff exterior and an honorable edge that cuts against the “normal” comings and goings in DC political circles. Rena drives the story through its paces as those in the circle around the President try to keep the lid on the cover up of what actually happened in North Africa when a renegade Army general died in a terrorist attack on a U.S. embassy.

As the story unfolds, Rena and company are tasked with conducting and independent investigation, to get answers for the President. It is that inner circle that tries mightily to keep the lid slapped tight, but soon the story begins to trickle out and the media side of things start to push Rena’s investigation closer to the truth. It is the truth that is at the root of not on the story but the concept behind the The Good Lie. Rosenstiel has hit on another winner and will have you looking toward what is next for Peter Rena.