My love of Ross Thomas is well-documented on this list. Most
of his novels are flawed, some much more than others, but I
am a sucker for him for many reasons. First of all, he
understands Washington like few writers. Second, he occupies
a world that I occupy. Thirdly, he is a helluva writer and is
masterful beyond exaggeration at the creation of believable
characters.
There was one novel by Thomas I did not have and the other
day I wandered into a store and found a Pan paperback of
YELLOW DOG CONTRACT and I realized it was my missing one. I
knew this because CONTRACT features Harvey Longmire, a
political consultant in retirement (temporary at least) and I
would have remembered this one as I have worked campaigns and
know many political consultants. This is one of the closest
Thomas novels to my world.
One of my private joys about Thomas is the fact that he so
often visits the area of Washington where I work. Reading the
descriptions of the location of Mac's Place, featured in
several of Thomas' novels, I have labeled Jefferson Place and
N Street as two very likely locations. So in this novel
Thomas carefully descibes the one-block Jefferson Place
during the course of action. I still consider N Street a more
likely location but it is again affirmation that Thomas knew
my area well.
Let me stop here and note the HBO program "K Street" which
blends reality with fiction and centers on a firm that does
election, lobbying and public relations. I have more than a
passing interest in that my company is located on K Street
and does lobbying and public relations but does not accept
candidates as clients or do electiions (although my lobbying
friends often take short leaves to work campaigns and it is a
rare presidential election that does not have friends of mine
in both camps. Rare, hell. Every presidential campaign of the
last quarter century qualifies).
Based on the first broadcast, I can not recommend "K Street."
If you want to view the world of the political consultant try
"Power" starring Richard Gere, Gene Hackman, Julie Christie,
and Denzel Washington. It flopped everywhere but Washington
but is a pretty good movie and certainly true to life.
I especially love Harvey Longmire in part because he is what
I would love to be: retired on a farm near Harper's Ferry. He
is called in by a foundation that is dedicated to
investigating possible consipriacies. Specifically, Harvey is
hired by kthe foundation to investigate the disappearance of
a labor union president. Said labor official was having an
affair with Harvey's sister.
Many Thomas novels have great premises. Unfortunately many
have serious plot flaws along the way to the conclusion,
YELLOW DOG CONTRACT is at the top rank of Thomas novels. The
novel came in 1976 in the wake of Watergate. It is gripping
to the end and there are no logical flaws to the plot. This
is one of several Thomas novels (CHINAMAN'S CHANCE and AH
TREACHERY are two others) that I will return to often during
the years.
Richard Moore
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