Spin Hardback - 1998

Plunging into California politics armed with nothing but a lethal tongue and a taste for power, Gulf War veteran Jim Asher lands a plum role in Republican Edward Winston's effort to buy a U.S. Senate seat. It's a bare-knuckle campaign, and Jim -- a golden boy with the aura of a surfer and the instincts of a shark -- proves to be a perfect fit in the press office. And with Winston's glamorously shrewd wife, Mariella, controlling $400-million-dollar purse strings, they're pulling no punches.

Learning spin control from the master -- Bud Raper, the crude hired gun who catapulted both Reagan and Bush into the Oval office -- Jim quickly becomes the hottest new political consultant west of the Washington Beltway, an Armani-clad Machiavelli. He also learns that power in California brings perks: a six-figure salary and illicit liaisons with everyone from loyal party girls to roving celebrity reporters. Through it all, Jim keeps his eyes on the ultimate prize -- Washington.

But when the stakes of the game are raised, Jim comes face-to-face with an unexpected nemesis: his own conscience. With more than one shark prowling the waters, Jim is forced to risk everything -- a choice that threatens to trigger a political shakedown of epic proportions.

An unforgettable chronicle of political seduction, "Spin" is a whip-smart look at a world of thrillingexcess, raw power, and utter ruthlessness -- laying bare the American democratic process in action, and in the flesh.