Oppo : a novel / Tom Rosenstiel.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A breathless and highly charged political thriller: the story of a senator who is offered the vice presidential slot by both parties' presidential nominees and then gets ominous threats



It's presidential primary season in Washington, DC, and both parties are on edge. At campaign rallies for all the candidates around the country, there are disturbing incidents of violence and protest and shocking acts of civil disobedience. Rena and Brooks are happy to sit it out.

Against this backdrop, Wendy Upton, the highly respected centrist senator, must make a choice: she's been offered the VP slot by both parties' leading candidates. When she receives an anonymous, unnerving threat that could destroy her promising career, she hires Peter Rena to investigate her past and figure out which side is threatening her and what they are threatening her with.

As Rena digs through the senator's seemingly squeaky-clean past, he must walk the tightrope between two parties at war with each other and with themselves, an electorate that is as restive as it has ever been, and a political culture that is as much driven by money as it is by ideology.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Partisanship never looked this bad: at a time when political differences of opinion are inspiring violence, greatly admired centrist senator Wendy Upton is offered the VP slot by the presidential candidates of both leading parties. Then she starts getting scary threats that could end more than her career and hires Peter Rena to figure out what's buried in her past that could be inspiring them. Political fixers Rena and partner Randi Brooks return after The Good Lie and the LJ-starred The Shining Sea.

Publishers Weekly Review

In this diverting if didactic political novel from Rosenstiel (The Good Lie), Democratic presidential candidate David Traynor, a tech billionaire and "bad boy reformer," wants Wendy Upton, a Republican senator from Arizona, on his ticket as vice president; so does Republican Dick Bakke. But before Wendy can commit to either, she receives an anonymous threat: "If you accept the offer to run as vice president, there are people who know something about you." Enter investigators Peter Rena and Randi Brooks, partners in a firm that does opposition research (the "oppo" of the title) to dig up dirt before the other side does. Trying to figure out what the threat refers to, as well as its source, forms the bulk of the plot, though Rosenstiel's real mission seems to be presenting his take on the horrible state of contemporary politics. As the executive director of the American Press Institute, Rosenstiel has a real understanding of American political life, but the book reads more like a lengthy op-ed piece than a novel. Agent: David Black, Black Agency. (Dec.)

Booklist Review

Peter Rena is a fixer. He earns his living making the problems of the powerful go away. In this third political thriller (after The Good Lie, 2019), he is caught up in the oppo problem that has plagued American politics since the early 1990s. Oppo is political slang for opposition research, which is basically sniffing around and digging up dirt something, anything in a candidate's past. Gotcha stuff. During a particularly ugly primary season, a female senator is astonished to be offered the vice-presidential slot by both parties' presidential nominees; then she gets an anonymous message saying that there are people out there who know something about her that could destroy her promising career if she accepts either bid. Rena digs through the senator's seemingly squeaky-clean past for a clue as to whom the blackmailer might be and what he or she knows about the senator. This smart and provocative novel evokes the work of political-thriller master Ross Thomas.--Jane Murphy Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Political observation in a thriller's guise.Rosenstiel's (The Good Lie, 2019, etc.) new novel, like his last, twines around up-to-the-minute political concerns, in this case, the effects of big money on politics. Wendy Upton, senior senator from Arizona, may be the world's last centrist; at least it seems that way when she is asked, on consecutive days, to be the vice presidential candidate by the campaigns of front-running presidential contenders of opposing parties. Then this fulcrum candidate is threatened: She's told to drop out or her life will be ruined. The call goes out to Rena, Brooks Associates, consultants, to try to discover and neutralize whatever dirt the threatener possesses. Peter Rena and Randi Brooks have a few new associates this time around, and as the team researches Upton's life, Brooks and Rena explain to their inexperienced new colleagues the changes wrought in electoral politics by the Citizens United decision and the inrush of nearly unlimited money. Their work results in an "opposition book," which is essentially an in-house compilation of all the background that an opposition campaign might uncover, thus avoiding nasty surprises and possibly averting or diluting any public relations issues. Sure enough, Sen. Upton has a few skeletons in her closet, which of course she attempts to conceal, but only a very few, barely enough to keep her human, and the team next concentrates on discovering who might want to threaten her. Big money plays a role as Rosenstiel clearly connects the dots linking wealth to the corrupt manipulation of public policy. Rena and Brooks are as amiable as ever, their expanded associates as clever and more diverse than ever, and the threats posed by unrestrained political money are clearly descried, but the ride could be more compelling.Admirable and sharp political analysis afloat in a lukewarm thriller. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.