The Independent

Goodwin debuts with a sleek political thriller that imagines the long-term consequences of legislative gridlock. In 2044 America, frustration about the impotence of the Democratic and Republican parties has led to the rapid growth of the SoMAD movement (“somebody make a decision”). When a SoMAD rally in Washington, D.C., turns violent, one of the movement’s activists, law student Max Peller, ends up in a coma. His father, tech CEO Ethan Bessette, persuades Max’s mentor, former prosecutor Jack Sanborn, to run for president. Bessette’s offer to donate billions to Sanborn’s campaign convinces him to get in the race, but Sanborn faces formidable opposition from Clay Overton, the Republican Speaker of the House, who’s dreamed of winning the Oval Office for decades. Meanwhile, Sanborn’s sudden emergence as a public figure makes him the target for an aggrieved man who believes he botched an old case involving a teenage victim. Goodwin pulls strong suspense out of both the impending election and the question of whether Sanborn’s legal past will catch up with him, and he dodges a heap of near-future clichés with levelheaded worldbuilding. Admirers of Andrew Yang and Stephen Marche’s The Last Election will be entertained. (Self-published)