October Surprise
by Jake Astor
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Pub Date Sep 26 2018 | Archive Date Nov 25 2018
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Description
Esme, a medium in a midwestern city is despondent. For months her work of helping the dead reassure the living has been stalled. Her spirit guide, an enigmatic revolutionary figure she calls The Lady, has disappeared. What Esme doesn't know is that she has been blocked. An elite team of political operatives have cut Esme off from the spirits. Now that she feels lost and vulnerable, they are manipulating her both online and in real life to drive her toward a political act that will help their client, a corrupt Governor trailing in his re-election bid.
The plan is that this political action will fail and their client will receive a sympathy bump a week before the election, a classic October Surprise. What they haven't counted on is that Esme's powers are real. So is The Lady and the ghost is very angry about being cut off from her afterlife's mission.
October Surprise is a supernatural political thriller, imagining the next logical step for America's corrupt political elite after manipulations like Cambridge Analytica and RussiaGate.
Available Editions
ISBN | 9780463729601 |
PRICE | $0.99 (USD) |
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Featured Reviews
This short short story had an interesting idea that could’ve been developed more, but still worked for me as a quick read. Essentially it’s a political conspiracy thriller with a supernatural slant set in an unspecified American city.
Esme, a medium whose gift has inexplicably abandoned her, feels bereft when she can no longer help her clients or make a living. What she doesn’t know is that a skilled team of public relations operatives, commissioned by the corrupt state governor who is up for reelection, are controlling everything that happens to her and trying to manipulate her into an assassination attempt which will gain him enough sympathy to win. With radio-frequency blockers cutting her off from her powers and her life in ruins, only The Lady, her spirit guide, can take back control and wreak revenge.
I’m generally not a fan of short stories unless they feature characters I already know, as I always want more background, more descriptions and a properly fleshed out plot, but I did like this and did not foresee how it would pan out.
At the time of writing this only has one other pretty harsh review on GR. It would be better if it was clearer from the blurb that this was only a short story to avoid further reader disappointment.
Thanks to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.
October Surprise is available now.
Readers who liked this book also liked:
Nigel Henbest; Simon Brew; Sarah Tomley; Ken Okona-Mensah; Tom Parfitt; Trevor Davies; Chas Newkey-Burden
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