Synopses & Reviews
“Carter twists plotlines like pretzels while wryly skewering Americas wealthy intellectual elite.” —
PeopleJohn Grisham called Stephen L. Carters first novel, The Emperor of Ocean Park, “beautifully written and cleverly plotted. A rich, complex family saga, one deftly woven through a fine legal thriller.” The Chicago Tribune hailed Carters next book, New England White, as “a whodunit with conscience.” Now this best-selling novelist returns with an electrifying political thriller set in the turbulent era of Watergate and Vietnam, giving us one of the most riveting and naked portraits of Nixon ever written.
In the summer of 1952, twenty prominent men gather at a secret meeting on Marthas Vineyard and devise a plot to manipulate the President of the United States. Soon after, the body of one of these men is found by Eddie Wesley, Harlems rising literary star. When Eddies younger sister mysteriously disappears, Eddie and the woman he loves, Aurelia Treene, are pulled into what becomes a twenty-year search for the truth. As Eddie and Aurelia uncover layer upon layer of intrigue, their odyssey takes them from the wealthy drawing rooms of New York through the shady corners of radical politics, all the way to the Oval Office.
Stephen Carters novel is as complex as it is suspenseful, and with his unique ability to turn stereotypes inside out, Palace Council is certain to enthrall readers to the very last page.
Review
"Carter twists plotlines like pretzels while wryly skewering America's wealthy intellectual elite." People
Review
"Disguised as page-turning summer reading that 'confirms all the worst suspicions of the American left, and, at times, the right,' Palace Council gives grim song to the secrets that men keep in the imperfect world they have inherited." Dallas Morning News
Review
"[A] fat, delicious, page-turning trifecta: It's old-fashioned family saga, a political tour of several tumultuous American decades and a murder mystery." Cleveland Plain Dealer
Review
"Mr. Carter's storytelling is underpinned by a masterly evocation of the world of wealthy and accomplished blacks in 20th-century America." Wall Street Journal
Review
"[W]ill grip readers, but it will also make them think. Enthusiastically recommended." Library Journal
Review
"This is Grade-A entertainment." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
USA Today called Stephen L. Carter's last novel the perfect summer read.... Carter slips in so many original, thought-provoking observations that the reader is sad the killer has been caught. Now Carter, the bestselling author of
New England White, is back with
Palace Council, a gripping political thriller set in the era of Watergate and Vietnam.
Philmont Castle is a man who has it all: wealth, respect, and connections. He's the last person you'd expect to fall prey to a murderer, but when his body is found on the grounds of a Harlem mansion, the young writer Eddie Wesley, along with the woman he loves, Aurelia Treene, are pulled into a 20-year search for the truth. The disappearance of Eddie's sister June makes their investigation even more troubling. As Eddie and Aurelia uncover layer upon layer of intrigue, their odyssey takes them from the wealthy drawing rooms of New York through the shady corners of radical politics all the way to the Oval Office and President Nixon himself.
Suspenseful, provocative, and witty, Palace Council turns our assumptions inside out and reminds us how the struggles of that era set the stage for America today.
Synopsis
USA Today hailed Carter's last novel as the perfect summer read. Now the bestselling author of New England White is back with a gripping political thriller set in the era of Watergate and Vietnam.
About the Author
Stephen L. Carter is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale University, where he has taught since 1982. He and his family live near New Haven, Connecticut.