Welcome

 

Welcome. My name is Joe Rothstein. I write. I’ve written the two political thrillers featured here and I’m now writing a third. This is a trilogy featuring a Mexican-American heiress who becomes the president of the United States and is confronted with a crisis like no other in U.S. history: How to keep democracy relevant in an age when science is becoming ever more dominant, and ever more dangerous.

Speaking Facts, Not Fiction

I also write my opinions on current issues. You can read them here. What’s your opinion? About my books, or anything else. Let me know at jrothstein@rothstein.net.

“If John Grisham wrote political thrillers instead of legal ones, they’d feel like this!”

She’s elected President of the United States pledged to lead a popular revolt against the corruption and greed of financial moguls and their lackeys in Congress. A conspiracy of the rich and powerful is determined to stop her before she succeeds. The result: impeachment, murder, assassination.

“Conjures positive memories of great political thrillers such as The Manchurian Candidate or Steven King’s The Dead Zone.”

Book 2 of The Latina President trilogy: She’s running for reelection. Ruthless international forces with, literally, a killer agenda, are willing to do anything required to defeat her.

For more than thirty years, through over 200 campaigns,
I lived at the turbulent center of U.S. politics as strategist, campaign manager and media producer.

Through all of those years I felt myself a cast member in a great, continuing drama. Those who run for political office subject themselves to intense public scrutiny and, quite often, personal humiliation. Their finances, their love lives, their most private life’s secrets, all become fair game for public review. Careers, marriages, life savings and long-time friendships are at risk. The campaigns are a blur of daily decisions, any one of which, on any given day, could win or lose the election. Election day itself is a one-day sale. Finishing with 49.9% of the vote may not be a winning number. There are no prizes for second best, only disappointment, heartbreak and often huge financial deficits. The process unfolds in a vice of tension, ratcheting tighter with each new poll, each favorable or unfavorable news cycle, each day closer to electoral judgment.

I’ve been involved in more high wire adventures than I can recall, and I’ve met countless people I can never forget. Much gets sacrificed to preserve our altar of self-government, and those who participate seldom are acknowledged for what they contribute toward keeping at bay the constant threat of autocratic rule. We read about the polls, the speeches, the missteps, the corruption. But it’s rare to get a sense of the every day internal drama that makes competitive elections possible. And so, I’ve chosen to repurpose many of my real-life experiences into fiction, hoping to provide some insight while producing what I also hope you will find as compelling and entertaining yarns.

My interest in politics and self-government didn’t end when I withdrew from the field of active campaign combat. I am highly opinionated about most everything. So I continue to write frequently about developments of the moment for the web site U.S. Politics Today https://uspolitics.einnews.com/. I also post comments on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Joerothstein and I continue to offer my criticism and advice to the many political people with whom I remain in contact.
I invite you to share yours with me. About my novels, my political columns, or just about anything at all. Here’s my email address: jrothstein@rothstein.net.

“If you miss this one, you will miss a nail biter of a story and a rare glimpse of the charming rats’ nests where high stakes political schemes are hatched.”

The first reviews: “Strong sequel to Tenny’s story.” “Plot twists are amazing.” “Pace is dizzying.” “I see film rights.”

“Picks up neatly from Latina, very sophisticated take on business as well as
politics, intriguing plot.”
“More than enough shots from left field to keep me hooked!”
“I enjoyed reading about strong women who also help each other and encourage growth in others.”
“I felt as though I was a part of the action!”
“I could apply ‘thought provoking’ to so much of the book, that I’m not satisfied with one-time reading.”
“Love the worldwide conspiracy, the Vatican and the Israelis. What a mix!”
“I love the pace, a lot going on but not so much that it is hard to track.”

“Joe Rothstein’s The Salvation Project is fashioned as a novel that conjures positive memories of great political thrillers of the past such as Richard Condon’s The Manchurian Candidate or Steven King’s The Dead Zone. Far from simply imitating those books however, Rothstein takes high stakes political espionage to a very contemporary, credibly scary, and absolutely addictive level with his opus, The Salvation Project.”
–Pacific Reviews

“The intricacies of the Project—are unusual and memorable.”
–BookLife by Publishers Weekly

“Be forewarned: there’s a lot of juicy action to digest here…and just when it seems like a tidy ending will evolve, yet another unexpected twist emerges.”
–Midwest Reviews

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“For intrigue and suspense rivals anything I’ve ever read in politics.”–U.S. Senator Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader

“Riveting from start to finish!” “This thriller deserves a TV Series or Movie!”

Isabel Aragon Tennyson is a Mexican-American heiress to a family fortune built upon the criminality of its Mexican conglomerate.

She becomes a dynamic figure in U.S. politics and rises to win election as President of the United States. Once in the White House, “Tenny,” as she is popularly known, embarks on a fearless crusade to rein in the financial and political power of her own family’s company and others like it in the U.S. But she is up against a ruthless international conspiracy determined to destroy her first.

The ensuing conflict results in assassination, impeachment and murder. The Latina President is not a true story. But it could be. Its themes and conflicts are as current as today’s headlines and newscasts. The story skims the surface between fiction and reality, told by an author who himself spent decades immersed in the tense and turbulent world of high stakes politics.

The Latina President is suspenseful, topical, important.

And it’s one hell of a good read.

“Joe Rothstein spent decades living in the real world of political drama. Now he’s packed all of that experience into a riveting work of political fiction that is a guaranteed page turner.”–U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan, former chairman, Senate Democratic Policy Committee, and best-selling author.

“A gripping tale about our country’s first Latina president and her unbelievable rise and fall. Couldn’t put it down. How does one say ‘spell-binding’ in Spanish?”—Dick Lobo, award-winning Latino journalist and broadcast executive.

“Powerful fiction, directly relevant to growing risks now facing us as individuals and the stability of our entire global financial system.”–U.S. Sen. Don Riegle, former chairman, Senate Banking Committee.

“Exciting, insightful, entertaining. Joe’s many years as a top notch political campaign consultant are evident in this fast moving story of personal ambition and intrigue. Highly recommended.”–Walter J. Clinton, Chairman, America Directions Group and veteran officer and board member of both the American Association and International Association of Political Consultants

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Speaking Facts, Not Fiction

Joe Rothstein’s opinion columns are published here

 

What’s Happening, Now

Book 3 of the Tenny trilogy is in the works. If you would like to be a beta reader or an email letting you know when it will be released, let me know at jrothstein@rothstein.net

Artwork by Mia