WILLIAMSBURG, Va., Sept. 18, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Readers on the hunt for the next great thriller will do well by picking up a copy of a newly released novel by author Robert Lockwood. In A Culture of Deception (Xlibris Publishing), Lockwood lets loose an explosive political thriller that spews out a scathing commentary about the state of American politics.
The trouble begins when Connecticut Senator Tom Felice, a decent, four-term, highly honored Democratic member of Congress, is tricked by Tyler Hendricks, his former chief of staff, now a Washington lobbyist, to legislate the transfer of a $720 million defense contract from a Utah company, earmarking it to the lobbyist's Canadian client. The contract would provide the U.S. Army with an anabolic steroid for use by U.S. Special Operations troops operating in Iraq and Afghanistan at the very edges of human performance. Felice's attempt to extort a $2 million bribe from the Canadian company leads to his expulsion from the U.S. Senate, his vacated seat becoming the object of a state and national political battle for congressional control and power.
The story envelops terrorism in greed. Elected political leaders are easily deceived by slick lobbyists who readily exploit their relatively low compensation levels and high-living aspirations. Indirectly, lobbyists seize the reins of elected power, influence and authority, without the cachet of electoral legitimacy. They craft consequences that reach to the very heart of the nation's constitutional culture, creating, in its place, a "culture of deception." A Culture of Deception, which retails at $ 19.99 (Paperback), is already available at the publisher's online bookstore, www.Xlibris.com.
About the Author
Robert Lockwood grew up in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and Manhattan, the son of Stephen Mosko and his English mother, Vera Lockwood-Mosko. He was raised in a multi-generational household with his paternal grandparents, refugees from Austria-Hungary who entered the US illegally via France and Canada.
Lockwood operated his own Washington, D.C. lobbying firm after retiring as counsel to the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and earlier as an Army Colonel. He was a political adviser to cabinet-level secretaries in several administrations. He taught at West Point and the National War College, and was an adjunct professor at Harvard, and Kansas and George Washington universities. Educated at the Sorbonne, Columbia and New York University School of Law, he also earned a Ph.D. from George Washington University. He lives with his wife in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Hutchinson Island, Florida.
A Culture of Deception * by Robert Lockwood
Publication Date: September 7, 2007
Trade Paperback; $ 19.99; 322 pages; 978-1-4257-8262-7
Cloth Hardback; $ 29.99; 322 pages; 978-1-4257-8271-9
To request a complimentary paperback review copy, contact the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7836. Tear sheets may be sent by regular or electronic mail to Marketing Services. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x.7876.
Xlibris books can be purchased at Xlibris bookstore. For more information, contact Xlibris at (888) 795-4274 or on the web at www.Xlibris.com.