The Slate

An exiled political operative in search of redemption is drawn back into her past in a piercing thriller about secrets, scandals, and capital chaos by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author. In another life, Agatha Cardiff was Congressman Paul Paxton’s chief of staff, a coolheaded fixer who made all his problems disappear. At Paxton’s behest, she covered up a shocking scandal that would have ruined a powerful senator’s career. It was one moral compromise too far and Agatha vowed, Never again. After twenty years in exile, Agatha’s life in the margins of Washington, DC, is about to become much more difficult. The rules have changed in her absence—that senator is now president, and Paxton, number three in the House, expects a nomination to the Supreme Court. After all, he knows where the president’s skeletons are buried. At the same time, Agatha’s quiet life on Capitol Hill shatters when her tenant—a woman with complex connections to DC—vanishes. Suddenly, Agatha is drawn back into a mire of corruption, blackmail, and deception precisely when she can least afford it. Any hope of redemption won’t come easy, because the true cost of Agatha’s sins is finally coming to light, and it is far from certain who will pay. An exiled political operative in search of redemption is drawn back into her past in a piercing thriller about secrets, scandals, and capital chaos by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.In another life, Agatha Cardiff was Congressman Paul Paxton’s chief of staff, a coolheaded fixer who made all his problems disappear. At Paxton’s behest, she covered up a shocking scandal that would have ruined a powerful senator’s career. It was one moral compromise too far and Agatha vowed, Never again.After twenty years in exile, Agatha’s life in the margins of Washington, DC, is about to become much more difficult. The rules have changed in her absence—that senator is now president, and Paxton, number three in the House, expects a nomination to the Supreme Court. After all, he knows where the president’s skeletons are buried.At the same time, Agatha’s quiet life on Capitol Hill shatters when her tenant—a woman with complex connections to DC—vanishes. Suddenly, Agatha is drawn back into a mire of corruption, blackmail, and deception precisely when she can least afford it. Any hope of redemption won’t come easy, because the true cost of Agatha’s sins is finally coming to light, and it is far from certain who will pay.