Shallow State: Coming Soon
An autocrat and his cronies take advantage of weakened institutions that are incapable of enforcing the U.S. Constitution and rule of law in order to erode the foundations of democracy and consolidate their power.
SHALLOW STATE is a speculative political novel featuring characters who, because of a series of coincidences, find themselves on the front lines of a battle to save America from autocracy. The story draws loosely from Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here and Phillip Roth’s The Plot Against America, transporting the dangers of fascism to the 21st century, where political dysfunction is exacerbated by the rapid spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories online.
Conservative Christian Otis Lipscomb is elected president by a slim margin. He seizes special emergency powers after a terrorist attack, outlaws protests, and takes control of the media. As Lipscomb continues his assault on citizens’ rights, untraceable popup messages from a group of white hat hackers and hacktivists appear on social media, warning the American people about the real intent of the administration.
Lisa Zhang, a young professional, doesn’t believe politics can affect her. Then she loses her job because of a vicious troll attack and is threatened by a racist vigilante group. Vowing to get even with the trolls, she teaches herself to hack computers. She befriends Gavin Cooper, president of the energy division of Cooper Industries, after she inadvertently uncovers key evidence of sabotage at one of their refineries. Lisa learns that the troll attack and the refinery explosion were organized by someone close to the Lipscomb administration. But why?
As they begin to detect connections among a series of crimes, Lisa, Gavin and his friend at the FBI collaborate with the hacktivists to expose the criminals and the ultimate authority behind them. They continue the investigation even as their lives are threatened, only to learn that restoring democracy and the rule of law will require more than exposing criminal activity by government officials. They have to confront wealthy elites who have spent years hollowing out the institutions that protect citizens’ rights and enforce the laws of the land.