Deadly Election
By Betsy Hartmann

White River Press
White River Junction, Vermont
February 2008

Description of Deadly Election:

A mysterious suicide in a military prison… a president whose thirst for alcohol may overwhelm his thirst for power…a White House advisor who takes matters into his own hands. With the country’s future in the balance, a Supreme Court justice, a young congressional aide and a grieving mother are swept into a fight for their ideals – and their lives.  As timely as tomorrow’s headlines, Deadly Election is a searing tale of intrigue, courage, and the lust for power.

• Click here for a Press Release on Deadly Election.

• Click here to read an excerpt from Deadly Election.

• Click here for an interview with Betsy Hartmann.

• Click here for an op-ed by Betsy on “The Election That Might Not Happen”.

• Click here for a Znet interview with Betsy about Deadly Election.

• Click here for an interview with Betsy on Air America online.

Praise for Deadly Election

Betsy Hartmann has written an elegant mystery story, a political thriller that confronts the darkest imponderables of our post-9/11 world.  Deadly Election is that rare thing: a thoughtful page-turner.
- Kai Bird, co-author with Martin J. Sherwin of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Betsy Hartmann has done something extraordinary: created a virtual reality version of the Bush administration that is both utterly convincing and even more bone-chillingly scary than the real thing. Like Richard Condon did in The Manchurian Candidate, she's grasped something that few other writers have: there are times when only a distorting mirror gives us back a true image of ourselves.
- Anthony Giardina, author of White Guys and Recent History

The Republicans fear they’re going to lose the coming election so they hatch a Machiavellian plot to have it postponed. Can they pull it off?

In Betsy Hartmann’s gripping novel, Deadly Election, we’re swept up by the intrigues of a cunning and treacherous political game. Every time we think we see our way clearly to the bottom of things, the story takes a dazzling new turn. Hartmann has her finger on the pulse of behind-the-scenes Washington, and she’s given her characters such depth and verve it’s easy to forget we’re reading fiction.

Deadly Election is more than an electrifying thriller. It’s an insightful investigation into the human condition—what makes some of the most promising people turn evil, and what turns some unlikely people into heroes. This is a dangerous book, and should be required reading for anyone who takes our democracy for granted.
- Corinne Demas, professor of English at Mount Holyoke College and author of Eleven Stories High: Growing up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948—1968

Deadly Election is a seductive thriller that leads us into the beating heart of present day American politics. I turned the pages for the brisk plotting and lively characters, then found myself caught by Hartmann's profound and chilling understanding of the grave danger faced when fear of terrorism is used as cover for savage political ambition. This is a novel that is a pleasure to read quickly, and that needs to be read urgently.
- Roger King, author of A Girl from Zanzibar, winner of the BABRA award for best novel.

Betsy Hartmann has taken our darkest fears of the Bush administration and carried them one terrifying step further: she’s written a highly plausible thriller about a government conspiracy to postpone the 2008 elections.  An electrifying
novel that's not be missed!
- Michael Klare, author of Blood and Oil