Product Description

When Oklahoma attorney Ben Kincaid came to Washington, D.C., to defend a senator caught in a red-hot sex scandal turned murder case, he never dreamed he’d end up trading the courtroom for the senate chamber. And after his not-so-distinguished client stepped down, Ben found himself appointed to complete the sullied senator’s term. Now, having barely gotten his political sea legs, he must rise to yet another challenge: advising the president’s next Supreme Court nominee during the sometimes thorny confirmation process. Luckily, Judge Thaddeus Roush’s popularity on both sides of the aisle looks to make him a shoo-in. Until he decides to out himself on national television–igniting a Beltway uproar and setting the stage for a bare-knuckle partisan brawl.

Forced to scramble for spin control, Ben hastily calls a press conference for the now controversial candidate. But the photo op becomes a tabloid nightmare when, on live TV, a brutally murdered woman is discovered in the judge’s backyard. For the political forces out to torpedo the nomination of a gay Supreme Court Justice, the shocking turn of events is pure gold.

With the secret backing of the president and a made-to-order new candidate waiting in the wings, the cagey senate majority leader and his most ruthless allies mount a smear campaign that would put Joe McCarthy to shame. But Team Kincaid isn’t about to let the best man for the job get derailed.

While Ben uses his best courtroom strategies to wage a war of words, his crack private eye, Loving, hits the capital streets to fight a much more hands-on battle–with hustlers, hit men, and homicidal hoods–as he digs for dirt in places even Deep Throat would avoid. It’s soon clear that this game is anything but politics as usual.

In Capitol Threat, William Bernhardt serves up a resounding one-two punch of political intrigue and legal suspense peppered with a volley of his trademark plot twists, sly wit, and persistent thrills.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61663 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-26
• Released on: 2007-12-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 432 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Set in a near future in which "the Christian Congregation, one of the most powerful lobbies in the country... helped put the last three Presidents in office," Bernhardt's 15th political thriller (after Capitol Murder) to feature Oklahoma attorney Ben Kincaid opens with an intriguing premise, but rapidly devolves into a series of improbable twists and turns. Thaddeus Roush, the Supreme Court nominee of Republican President Blake, confounds his natural base on the right by coming out of the closet ("Ladies and gentlemen, I am a gay American") during the Rose Garden ceremony announcing his selection. The reverberations from this shock wave are still being felt when Roush finds an unknown woman's corpse in his home during a televised press conference. The Democratic Party leadership turns to Kincaid, newly appointed to complete the term of a former Oklahoma senator, for help in saving Roush's nomination. Unfortunately, the book lacks the credible insider information that might offset the unlikely plot developments, while too many supporting details (tokens in the D.C. Metro?) ring false. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Ben Kincaid is now a U.S. senator, but he barely has time to settle into his office before he has another murder to solve. Thaddeus Roush, Supreme Court nominee, has just revealed he is gay, and when the body of a woman is discovered during Roush's press conference--and Roush's partner is implicated in her death--Ben comes to the man's defense. Bernhardt has his formula down pat by now (the first Kincaid novel, Primary Justice, appeared in 1992), and those familiar with the series won't encounter many surprises. This one will feel either tired or comfortable, depending on whether readers think of Kincaid as an old friend. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Praise for William Bernhardt and Capitol Murder

“A white-knuckle page-turner . . . Don’t start this book when you have something important to do.”
–The Oklahoman

“Political infighting and backstabbing, Kincaid faces it all.”
–New York Daily News

“[William Bernhardt is a] master of the legal thriller.”
–Abilene Reporter-News


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

Capitol Threat is a triple delight!
Just when you think Mr. Bernhardt's books can't get any better, he surprises you by one-upping himself. This one has more twists and turns than a Twister game and more ups and downs than a roller coaster.

In Capitol Threat, we're taken through the sordid and dangerous process of getting a Supreme Court Justice nominee to actually make it to the Supreme Court. Just when Ben thinks he's out of his league and can't possibly help Judge Roush, the ball bounces into his court.

This book will keep you on the edge of your seat. I couldn't put it down - finished it in two days. Thanks for another wonderful story Mr. Bernhardt!

Lois Karklus
[...]

The Author's Alter Ego
I'm not a lawyer and don't profess to be any kind of an expert on the law. But in the past few years, I've become hooked on the "legal thriller" genre. I've now read all of William Bernhardt's books, most of which feature attorney Ben Kincaid. I've also read books by several other lawyer/authors, and while literary criticism has never been my strong suit, I've begun to understand that each such author has his or her own unique style of approaching a story.

William Bernhardt's books are among the most lighthearted that I've discovered in this genre. I don't take him as seriously as I take some of the others, such as Scott Turow. Bernhardt's books have an element of fantasy to them. Because I've learned that Bernhardt and his protagonist Ben Kincaid have a lot of things in common in their lives, I see Ben Kincaid's exploits as those that lawyers like William Bernhardt fantasize happening to them to liven up their lives.

I am politically liberal, so I have not been upset by the underlying agenda items Bernhardt's recent books have embraced. In fact, I've found that most of the lawyer/authors I've read lean to the left more than to the right. I'd welcome the chance to read a well-written legal thriller by someone whose politics are different from mine.

Since I once lived in the Washington, DC, area and still visit there a few times each year, I spotted a few inaccuracies and stretches of the imagination. There are no turnpikes leading from Montgomery County, MD, to Washington, and there is no shopping mall with a parking garage, escalators connecting each floor, and a department store anchor in the vicinity of Georgetown. But I know that authors are entitled to literary license; John Grisham even admits to inventing Washington landmarks in his author's note in "The Street Lawyer".

For those who have been following the Kincaid stories, the usual cast of characters returns in this book. Jones, his administrative assistant, and Christina, his partner and now fiancee, play small but important roles in this story. But it's his investigator, Loving, who deserves top billing with Kincaid this time.

In terms of the suspense generated by this story, I pretty much had it figured out who did it. There are a couple of surprises at the end, but I did turn out to be correct. Still, I had a lot of fun getting there as the story progressed.

I look forward to more stories featuring Ben Kincaid, whether he continues as a U.S. Senator or decides to return to Oklahoma after his appointed term ends.

Capitol Threat not up to par
I am a big fan of William Bernhardt, but this book was not his best by far, for the first time i have been disappointed in the Ben Kencaid series. It was too slow moving, not enough about Ben and his partner and their employees and the personal stuff. The whole book was kind of a waste of time for me and not up to his usual entertaing writeing. I have read all of his books and keep them in my small library and this was the first time I have felt let down by him.