Rick Tompkins, a suburban Toronto insurance broker, never considered a career in politics until a good friend, who happens to be the leader of the Conservative party, asks him to run for office. He accepts the offer, with the understanding that he would probably not win, but can use the opportunity to gain some visibility for himself and his business. Jerry Switzer, a veteran party worker, is sent in to guide Rick through a campaign in a riding that hasn’t elected a Conservative in years.

Rick fumbles his way through the election campaign and manages a surprise win but at the expense of saddling his party with an impossible commitment. What makes matters worse, Rick is anything but politically correct. He offends everyone in his path and stumbles from one political scandal to another. Still, Rick has one saving asset: a political party machine that is able to spin scandals to its advantage.

Mr. Handler has written a book that, in another age, would be satire; a send up of how a populist buffoon can wreck havoc in government and their personal life through sheer indomitable ignorance and appetite. In this year of the exposed ass, the donkey that brays loudest would be at home in Handler’s world.

There is a straightforwardness to Handler’s prose, as facts and figures are marshaled out, signaling that, while satire, the issues and processes of bureaucratic government are real. This reality doesn’t get in the way of the, often times grim, humor. Rick is a bigot of the most ordinary kind, a small minded, visionless, profiteer that has no civic interest beyond self interest. One suspects these are common behind the curtain in our decision makers and leaders, and Handler merely confirms and exposes the pomp for laughs.

In this cynical shepherding through the lifecycle of government, the ‘how the sausage is made,’ we meet the enablers. It’s almost impossible to pity the party line support structures that recognize the gross immorality of their candidate, the awfulness of the situations he puts them in, yet continue, unflaggingly to do their jobs, tow the line, and collect paychecks. Handler does not scorn them, but there they are, and we are invited to make our own opinions.

Will this book make you laugh? Probably, but it may well send you into rage spirals at the same time, as it did me. – Micah

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This is not the type of book I normally read, but after coming across this, given today’s political climate, I thought it’d be nice to visit things through a fictional lens (escapism in action, baby!). Loved how authentic the writing and situations were. Easy to imagine it all play out, and enjoyed it all the more since I feel like I know characters like this and could imagine this going down in my own small hometown (yikes!). It was like I knew the characters.

“Under every stone lurks a politician” is a quote in the book, and it’s a sticky thought. Here, told with wit, reality, and plenty of humor, we have an origin story of the mess that can happen when you pick up the wrong stone. Highly recommended! – Meggan