In 1992, Governor Bruce Jansen came up with the idea to put a game show on national TV. The game would pit several people against each other. The top three winners were Dorothy also called Doggie, Rosalie, and T. Perkins. As a reward, they all traveled to China with Jansen. Little did any of them know that this would bind them together for the rest of their lives... While on this trip, Jansen gives Doggie a small Chinese figure telling her that they would be friends forever. While on this shopping trip, Carol, Jansen's wife is shot and killed--something none of them will ever forget.

Now the year is 2008 and Jansen has since become a democratic senator, running to be the next president of the United States. Doggie, along with Wesley and John, is working on his campaign. As the election comes closer, Doggie's dad Bud wants Jansen to hold his election party at his hotel, but Doggie doesn't feel that is the best idea because her father has always been a Republican. However, plans proceed to have the party at Bud's hotel, and on the night of the election, Jansen becomes the next president of the US. As Jansen and his new wife Mimi arrive at the party, his worst fear is realized: his wife is shot, and both she and their unborn child are killed.

Bud is arrested when evidence is found showing he paid a man named Toby to kill Mimi. Bud claims he is innocent but is tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death. Doggie and others from the campaign are hired to work in White House. Doggie knows she should be thrilled with this job opportunity, but she feels like an outsider because of her father's conviction. All the while, the president has become a maniac and begins passing laws that are as crazy as his mood swings...

What can I say about THE WASHINGTON DECREE? Unfortunately, if I didn't know that this book was probably written over a year ago, I would have to say it sounds like what is going on today. Jussi Adler Olsen writes like this is about today's crisis. I could not tear myself away from this book. Wondering what the crazy president would do next...

However I don't want people not to read this book. It really is great, don't look at it the way I do, just read it and make your own decisions. I am not sure if Olsen ever worked for anyone in office, but sure has a lot of knowledge about government.

So if you have a day to kill pick up this book which comes out in August and sit and really enjoy it.

Book Summary

The New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of the Department Q series is back, with a terrifyingly relevant stand-alone novel about an America in chaos.

"The president has gone way too far. . . . These are practically dictatorial methods we're talking about."

Sixteen years before Democratic Senator Bruce Jansen was elected president of the United States, a PR stunt brought together five very different people: fourteen-year-old Dorothy "Doggie" Rogers, small-town sheriff T. Perkins, single mother Rosalie Lee, well-known journalist John Bugatti, and the teenage son of one of Jansen's employees, Wesley Barefoot. In spite of their differences, the five remain bonded by their shared experience and devotion to their candidate.

For Doggie, who worked the campaign trail with Wesley, Jansen's election is a personal victory: a job in the White House, proof to her Republican father that she was right to support Jansen, and the rise of an intelligent, clear-headed leader with her same ideals. But the triumph is short-lived: Jansen's pregnant wife is assassinated on election night, and the alleged mastermind behind the shooting is none other than Doggie's own father.

When Jansen ascends to the White House, he is a changed man, determined to end gun violence by any means necessary. Rights are taken away as quickly as weapons. International travel becomes impossible. Checkpoints and roadblocks destroy infrastructure. The media is censored. Militias declare civil war on the government. The country is in chaos, and Jansen's former friends each find themselves fighting a very different battle, for themselves, their rights, their country . . . and, in Doggie's case, the life of her father, who just may be innocent.