A HIGHER BETRAYAL

A political thriller about a country gone awry and a politician trying to save it.

Meyer follows up In Defense of the Grid (2023) with book three in the Wayward Patriot series. In this installment, Minnesota native Patrick “Rick” Taylor becomes a United States senator. Rick, a humble type who goes to Washington with an intact moral compass, is helped along the campaign trail by a plucky song his wife Maggie writes. The president, one Gerald Donaldson, is pleased that Rick is in his party, though time will tell if Rick will toe the party line. (It soon becomes apparent that he will not.) Donaldson wants to dispatch the U.S. military to the southern border, ostensibly to halt illegal immigration and fight drug cartels. The plan involves the use of specially designed AI drones that will attack anyone carrying a weapon. Donaldson’s true intentions are much more aggressive, however, and he wants Rick’s vote to move the measure forward. When Rick refuses, the trouble begins: An assassin is dispatched to Minnesota to kill Rick and Maggie and make it look like a murder-suicide. Shortly thereafter, the operation at the border escalates into a deadly fiasco. Rick’s road to danger is lengthy—a large portion of early chapters are about him getting elected, with quite an emphasis on his wife’s song. (He later recalls of the tune, “I couldn’t have been prouder or more grateful.”) This is not the typical approach for a thriller; while a musically talented spouse does not add much to the narrative, the story bucks the conventions of the genre in ways readers will appreciate. Rick is not the toughest protagonist around, nor does he possess extensive training or secret knowledge; he simply wants to vote in congress how he sees fit. When the plot gets up and moving, and bullets start flying, readers will be compelled to find out where his moral compass will guide him.

Though slow to start, this novel features a unique hero cutting his own path through deadly circumstances.