“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep.

I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”

– Alexander the great

This epic quote from Alexander the Great sums up very succinctly both the current political landscape in the United States and the fictional one created by Jason Pinter in his electrifying new thriller THE CASTLE. The comparisons don’t end there, but I’m straying. Let’s start with our protagonist.

Jeremy ‘Remy’ Stanton is one of a million other hardworking and highly accomplished young people looking to get their own bite out of the Big Apple. It won’t be his hard work and his determination at work that will get you noticed, but the split second and seemingly random act that happens one night after work.

Remy is leaving one of his favorite Midtown drinking establishments when he comes across a tense scene. A young couple is being terrorized by two armed robbers. Whether it’s his gut fort, liquid fort, or a combination of both, Remy springs into action to defend the victims of the intended robbery. He succeeds, but doesn’t discover exactly what happened until he wakes up in a New York hospital after requiring life-saving surgery for the bullet that punctured his shoulder and part of a major artery.

When he wakes up, the first face he sees is that of the young woman he had saved. She may not have looked familiar overnight (and after a few cocktails), but Remy can now immediately place her as Alena Griggs, daughter of billionaire real estate developer and one of the world’s most recognizable men, Rawson Griggs. . . Alena’s mother passed away when she was a child, so her dad means the world to her. In fact, Rawson is much more esteemed even than her husband, Paul Bracewell, who was with her at the time of the attempted robbery.

Money is not an issue when it comes to seeing Remy heal quickly. Once Rawson personally examines Remy and has his own one-on-one with him, he sees an opportunity. Ever the opportunist, Rawson Griggs seizes the opportunity to use this accidental meeting between his daughter and Remy Stanton and decides to use it to help him in his final final game: becoming a third-party candidate who is elected President of the United States. . Rawson has many detractors and others who just don’t take his career seriously. Unlike the current 45th President of the United States (no need to keep making comparisons to the fictional Griggs because they are endless), Griggs has created his own party to challenge both Democrats and Republicans: the Mayflower Party. His platform and ideas for widespread, global reform will certainly sound familiar to anyone who has watched the news or read a newspaper in the last two years, but the election is not a foregone conclusion. Having someone like Remy Stanton, the golden boy of social media, in his camp could open a lot of doors, minds, and pockets to support Grigg’s presidential bid and essentially put him over the top.

Of course, if you go the other way and get on Rawson’s bad side, he can basically destroy you and everyone you know in the blink of an eye. This is what’s been going on between Rawson and his bland son-in-law Paul. When readers learn that Paul has, in fact, been acting as a double agent and reporting everything he knows about Rawson to the Democratic contender’s Campaign Manager, they just know things aren’t going to end well.

Meanwhile, Remy is enjoying the ride. He is part of Team Griggs and they are all well on their way to final victory. He also seems to have a blossoming relationship with Alena, though any possible relationship would not end well either. Rawson Griggs’ campaign has many enemies, including a terrorist who attacks them in their own skyscraper, nicknamed The Castle, in Midtown Manhattan. Several people lose their lives in that attack and Griggs uses that to build and create a new base of sympathy for those who may have been hesitant to support his efforts.

It seems that nothing can go wrong for Remy. Of course, with this being a thriller written by master conspirator Jason Pinter, you acknowledge that the euphoria will be very short-lived. When Remy is approached by the same Democratic contact Paul Bracewell (ironically named Paul Rimbaud) has been dealing with, he gets a virtual slap in the face when he realizes who Rawson Griggs really is and why Remy and the country are in a big fight. issue. if his campaign is successful. Initially, Remy scoffs at these accusations and rebuffs Rimbaud. But the wheels in Remy’s head keep turning…

Remy has a moment of morality and begins digging into Rawson Griggs on his own and that puts him firmly at the crossroads of the novel. I have to stop here to preserve the many twists, turns, and surprises that Jason Pinter has in store for you. Let’s just say you won’t be disappointed and there won’t be a single character involved that doesn’t make you feel different before the novel’s conclusion.

THE CASTLE is really interesting stuff, as well as incredibly relevant and timely. It is also compulsively readable and deserves to be in the hands of every commuter, bather, traveler, and nocturnal insomniac who loves to read. However, if you are a traveler in New York City, be sure to read this carefully by looking over your shoulder and casually glancing at your fellow travelers the entire time. You never know who might be watching…