Elimination -- Ed Gorman

Dev Conrad, a political consultant, is working on a number of campaigns, but the one taking up most of time is that of Jessica Bradshaw, a left-leaning candidate who's trying to hold onto her congressional seat in the face of tough opposition.  Her dysfunctional family seems to be the least of her problems, especially after there's an assassination attempt.  Naturally Conrad, who's a former Army investigator, starts to do a little sleuthing, and he finds himself in opposition to the local cops and especially the chief of police, who doesn't appear to be exactly the nicest guy around.

But then hardly anybody's a nice guy here.  The candidate's no prize, herself, and the man who's holding onto the MacGuffin decides he'd rather cash in than help out.  Gorman has several surprises in store, and at the end there aren't really any winners, much less the voters.

Gorman's writing and political observations are sharp and calculated to sting, no matter which side of the political aisle you prefer, but as usual in Gorman's work, no matter how flawed the characters are, they're treated with humanity and compassion.  Okay, not all of them.  Some of them are just too undeserving.  But most of them.  This is a fine book in a fine series.  Check it out.