The Hellfire Club

by Jake Tapper Narrated by Jake Tapper

Overview

A young Congressman stumbles on the powerful political underworld of 1950's D.C. in this "potent thriller" (David Baldacci) and New York Times bestseller from CNN correspondent Jake Tapper.

Charlie Marder is an unlikely Congressman. Thrust into office by his family ties after his predecessor died mysteriously, Charlie is struggling to navigate the dangerous waters of 1950s Washington, DC, alongside his young wife Margaret, a zoologist with ambitions of her own. Amid the swirl of glamorous and powerful political leaders and deal makers, a mysterious fatal car accident thrusts Charlie and Margaret into an underworld of backroom deals, secret societies, and a plot that could change the course of history. When Charlie discovers a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of governance, he has to fight not only for his principles and his newfound political career...but for his life.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

02/26/2018
CNN’s chief Washington correspondent Tapper (The Outpost) makes his fiction debut with an intriguing if uneven political thriller set during the McCarthy era. In December 1953, a New York seat in the House of Representatives becomes vacant upon its occupant’s mysterious death. Charlie Marder, a Columbia University academic and WWII veteran, is appointed to fill it after some backstage maneuvering from his well-connected father, a Manhattan power broker. Marder and his zoologist wife, Margaret, make the move to D.C., which is in the grips of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare, as well as the dual shining lights of the Kennedy brothers. It’s soon clear that Marder is more pawn than player in a political chess game, even when he tries to stand up against money being funneled to a company that produced shoddy gas masks during the war. He makes friends with the veterans on Capitol Hill, joining them in liquor-soaked poker games. Tapper, whose intimate knowledge of Washington is undeniable, initially spends more time building up the Communist-hunting ambience of the 1950s than developing the plot, but once Marder closes in on a secret society and its tentacles within the government, the action rapidly picks up. Fans of well-researched historicals will be rewarded. Author tour. Agent: Robert Barnett, Williams & Connolly. (Apr.)

From the Publisher

Praise for The Hellfire Club

"This is a remarkably accomplished effort, especially for a first novel, very much like a Brad Meltzer thriller: energetic and mysterious, with plenty of suspense and a general feeling of evil lurking just barely behind the scenes. Tapper brings an expert's eye to the novel, too, layering it with the kind of detailed political knowledge that only someone with his first-hand experience could bring to the story. An auspicious debut."—Booklist

"Fiction is as suspenseful as truth in Jake Tapper's The Hellfire Club"—Vanity Fair, What to Read in May

"CNN's Jake Tapper proves he has the page-turning knack in his entertaining debut novel"—Jocelyn McClurg, USA Today

"The Hellfire Club is hot summer reading"—Tampa Bay Times

"The action comes fast and furious, "House of Cards" on steroids; you'll be turning pages faster than a cable channel updates its chyron. Perfect for an airplane or the beach, The Hellfire Club is a worthy distraction from the real-life news cycle Tapper presides over."—Cynthia Dickison, Minnesota Star Tribune

"Insightful... Tapper takes readers back to a Washington remembered for being a time of distrust and potential future conflicts. Key historical figures interact with Tapper's fictional characters, and with his sources at the end of the novel showcasing his research, it almost feels like everything actually happened. It is fiction, however, well-written and worthwhile."—Jeff Ayers, The Associated Press

"[The Hellfire Club is] both an engaging and slyly timely foray into Washington politics... incorporat(ing) shades of Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as well as elements of contemporary toxic alliances."—Seattle Review of Books

"Startlingly good...a reminder that the rarest thing of all in spy novels is a writer willing to give us a character who could exist just as easily in any kind of literary fiction."—Alexander Aciman, Tablet

"[The Hellfire Club] has the best qualities of this sort of historical fiction, which include the winking perspective of the present."—Ben Smith, BuzzFeed

"An ambitious debut, a meticulously researched work of historical fiction with a byzantine plot punctuated by explosive, Dan Brown-esque twists"—Alexandra Alter, New York Times

"a splashy, swampy page-turner [that] plunges readers into the heart of '50s Washington, D.C. The book showcases Tapper's passion for American political history, rich as it is with fascinating period details, as well as his feel for a story well-told."—David Canfield, Entertainment Weekly

"Tapper uses his storytelling chops to deftly put you in the moment when Joe McCarthy was waving his infamous paper and the Congress was at peak skullduggery. Hellfire is a potent thriller, replete with well-developed characters that made me think that history does indeed repeat itself."—David Baldacci, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of End Game

"The Hellfire Club's first, thrilling scene pulled me into 1950s Washington, D.C., and didn't let go until the last, satisfying page. Tapper's passions for history and politics shine through in this remarkably timely, page-turning debut."—Alafair Burke, author of the New York Times Bestselling The Wife

"A fast-paced, thrilling story of corruption and intrigue in Washington, DC, Jake Tapper's The Hellfire Club is terrific: provocative and timely."—Harlan Coben

"A fun, fast, gripping thriller full of real-life dirty dealmakers and legendary political power-brokers. No one knows the ins and outs of Washington politics like Jake Tapper."—Anderson Cooper, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Dispatches from the Edge

"Leave it to Tapper to find the truth in fiction. This great buzzsaw of a mystery is packed with indecent politicians and secret societies - making the 1950s setting just as relevant today. The scariest part of The Hellfire Club is that it proves Washington - and America - is forever mourning for the past."—Brad Meltzer, The Escape Artist

"Here's your chance to get up close and personal with John and Bobby Kennedy, Nixon, Eisenhower, Kefauver, LBJ and Joe McCarthy. Jake Tapper puts you right back in the 50's. At the same time, Tapper has written a superior thriller that I couldn't stop reading. To be completely honest though, Tapper is an irritating bastard. Journalists like him are supposed to be writing dusty non-fiction tomes that help us get to sleep, not thrillers that keep us up half the night. The Hellfire Club is a helluva good read. Now Tapper should return to writing non-fiction."—James Patterson, #1 New York Times Bestselling author

"From the moment you enter The Hellfire Club's world of suspense and intrigue and sex and danger, you won't want to leave. The swampy world of 1954 Washington DC feels vividly relevant in our current day politics. A must read!"—Shonda Rhimes

Praise for THE OUTPOST:


"The Outpost is a mind-boggling, all-too-true story of heroism, hubris, failed strategy, and heartbreaking sacrifice. If you want to understand how the war in Afghanistan went off the rails, you need to read this book."—Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air and Where Men Win Glory

"There have been many books written on the subject of America's seemingly endless engagement in Afghanistan, but none better than The Outpost."—Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic

"Brilliant, dedicated reporting by a journalist who goes to ground to get the truth. A sad, real tale about this war, America and the brave warriors who live-and die-at the point of the spear."—Bob Woodward, author of PLAN OF ATTACK, THE COMMANDERS and OBAMA'S WARS

"Analyzing the consequences of decisions, large and small, is what makes Tapper's book so important...for those wishing to understand the middle years of the war, they could do no better than to read THE OUTPOST."—Nate Rawlings, Time

"Jake Tapper has written perhaps the best book set in Afghanistan to date...He provides a window into the false hopes and visions that enabled this failed experiment, an attempt to create government in spaces that had actively avoided such."—Douglas Ollivant, Foreign Policy

"[Jake Tapper] has woven an intricate account about battlefield bravery hamstrung by military bureaucracy...[his] voice is understated, not polemical-just a good reporter letting the facts speak for themselves."—Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times

"[A] fascinating history...Tapper delivers a blow by blow account of [the soldier's] actions, their personal stories, and the tortured, often incomprehensible command decisions that kept them fighting despite inadequate support and an ally, Pakistan, that actively encouraged the enemy."—Publishers Weekly

"One of the most important [books] of the year. Jake Tapper's book is meticulously researched, excellently written and a must-read for everyone who does more than just mouth the phrase, 'I support the troops.' "—Curt Schleier, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

JUNE 2018 - AudioFile

CNN anchor and novelist Jake Tapper narrates a great summer listen as he re-creates 1950s McCarthy-era Washington in this thriller. Tapper uses his best broadcasting voice when describing the trials and tribulations of newly minted Congressman and war hero Charlie Marder as he acclimates to hardball national politics. At times, Tapper’s dramatic pacing falters, and his character portrayals are weak, but his overall performance is enjoyable, especially when his characters interact with compelling historical figures like Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy. At the center of the story is Charlie’s relationship with his newly pregnant wife, Margaret. Tapper shines when depicting the intimacies of people who are struggling to extricate themselves from the Washington swamp. R.O. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2018-03-05
In CNN anchor Tapper's first novel, a thriller set in the 1950s, freshman Congressman Charlie Marder is rudely awakened to the killing realities of Washington politics.Marder was a history professor at Columbia University, with a bestselling book to his credit, when he was appointed to a vacant congressional seat thanks to the string-pulling of his attorney father, a Republican power broker. Shortly after taking office, this World War II veteran causes a stir by daring to oppose appropriations to a big tire company whose defective gas masks led to the death of a fellow soldier in France. Caught up in cutthroat politics, Marder is soon drinking too much, bending to pressure, and making compromises that alarm and distance his pregnant wife, a zoologist. This is the heroic former army captain she married? As revealed by the long list of sources Tapper presents, he did his research. And his writing has a relaxed, flowing quality. But in surrounding his protagonist with heavy hitters, including Jack and Bob Kennedy ("No one who knows him calls him Bobby"), Lyndon Johnson, Joseph McCarthy, and Roy Cohn, Tapper falls into the old foreground/background trap: Nothing in Marder's story, as fraught with personal tension as it may be, can measure up to the stories of the people to whom he is in thrall. Ultimately, the human scenery of this You Are There for adults overwhelms the narrative. Scant attention is paid to the death of a cocktail waitress who apparently was picked up by Marder at a hotel bash and thrown from the car he was driving. He can't remember a thing. Worse, he is unable to imagine that everything may not be as it seems.Tapper's backstage portrayal of Capitol Hill circa 1954 is breezy and knowing but lacks the ingredients that would make it a successful political thriller.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170092260
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	04/24/2018
Series:	Charlie and Margaret Marder Series , #1
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	1,124,154

Videos