Four Seats by Aaron Cooley

Scroll down a few reviews for West Coast Don's review where he called me out to read this in part because it's based in my not-so-humble hometown of Washington, DC.

The new session of the US Supreme Court begins the first Monday in October. Jason Lancaster, a former 'combat engineer' in Afghanistan (he blew things up), is part of the police force for the Supreme Court (didn't know they had their own cops, did you?) whose main squeeze is his boss, Miranda Whitney. They are out on the Sunday before the first Monday. Neither drinks, but Jason is feeling tipsy. After a raucous night back at his place, he wakes up hungover, late for work on this important day, and Miranda gone. She's the top cop so she can't be late.

But being late means he wasn't blown up with four of the justices and 120 assorted employees and visitors that morning, including Miranda. As one of the only employees to survive, Jason is suspect #1. Homeland Security investigator George Aug questions Jason and after a lengthy interrogation believes him even to the point of allowing Jason to look at one unexploded ordinance. With the help of Miranda's struggling hi-techy brother, Ollie, they learn the attack was triggered by a cell phone call that came from Detroit. Jason hustles off for Michigan.

Meanwhile . . .

The current President, Antonio Salas (America's first Latino President) must quickly fill four seats. The immediate former POTUS (Reginald Irving) and FLOTUS (Rosemarie) offer their services to navigate the political waters to get the seats filled and get the court back in business. In reality, this book is about the political savvy of the FLOTUS.

Cooley thus presents, essentially, two parallel stories that will, of course, eventually intersect. The hunt for the bombers and the politics behind Presidential appointments. I read one review that equated this to the TV show 24 and the Netflix series House of Cards. While I also thought of the House of Cards comparison, I hadn't come up with 24 only because Jason isn't as forceful and undeniably righteous as Jack Bauer (at least in Jack's own mind).

Both stories are riveting on their own merits, making this a big read (nearly 700 pages), but I highly doubt many will find that overwhelming.

Despite my recommendation and WCDs endorsement, after the introduction of about the 50th-ish character, I started to picture some editor, or committee of editors,  tinkering with who the characters were in order to meet some list of necessary traits in order to check as many items as possible on the  political agenda list. To wit:
Hispanic President? check
Likable, but lustful former President? check
Behind the scenes FLOTUS as the real brains behind the First Family? check
American Indian? check (the guy vetting potential candidates)
Asian American? check (ghost writer of a biography of one of the potential candidates)
Hero of the war on terror? check (one of the candidates)
Homosexual themes? check (the same candidate)
Rape victims? check (no spoilers from me)
Military coverup of sexual harassment? check (see above)

See what I mean? Plus there were a couple of details that only a sports nut like me might see. For example, in a former life, President Salas, even though he was born in the USA, was a GK in South America and played in the Copa Libertadores (the South American version of the Champions League) against Boca Juniors (Argentina). Really? How does a pro GK down there climb to the pinnacle of US politics? That's a stretch. Or the Justice who played linebacker in college and won the Heisman Trophy? Another stretch. But those don't detract from the story; just details that a small fraction might spot.

WCD said this has been optioned to Hollywood. IMHO, this would not make a good movie. Too much story for the typical 2hr flick. But it would make a good special series along the lines of True Detective, or The Killing, et al.

ECD