The Power Game

A suspenseful thriller of high-stakes political deception, from a former State Department official with years of insider access to Washington politics

“An entertaining tale of good intentions gone awry in the nation’s capital.” —The Washington Post

Peter Cutler is a respected Princeton professor living a quiet academic life. Then one afternoon, an old college friend makes him an offer he can’t refuse: the position of foreign policy adviser to the Democratic presidential candidate. Cutler takes the job and eagerly jumps into the political fray. But he soon finds out that the power politics of Washington are a far cry from the comforts of university life. The Power Game tracks Cutler’s rise in government and his realization that survival requires participation in a ruthless game of tug-of-war in which everyone struggles to promote their own agenda.

• “An entertaining tale of good intentions gone awry in the nation’s capital.” 
  The Washington Post
• “A beautiful portrait of a government official who is torn apart by his work . . . The narrator’s struggles to balance his work and his family, his lust and his wife, the risk of nuclear terrorism and the risk of his father dying alone, make for a superb, moving novel, the kind you really don’t want to put down.” 
  Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times
• “Sophisticated insight into what kinds of issues matter in Washington and how people in power battle them out. Nye takes us inside the State Department, Pentagon, and White House and gives us a chance to watch and listen. We need more writers like Nye to tell us what it’s really like.” 
  The Washingtonian
• “The Power Game is a novel, but what makes it so powerful are the uncomfortable truths it contains about how Washington can be in reality. It is a cautionary tale filled with colorful characters and great suspense. Joe Nye knows Washington, both how it is and how it should be.” 
  Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Steve Jobs
• “A taut but sensitive political thriller—ambition, betrayal, intrigue, terrorism, sex, it's all there. It has the freshness of tomorrow's headlines.” 
  Tina Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Diana Chronicles
• “Nye understands power—its uses and abuses, its seductive and fleeting quality. He’s also a good storyteller. The Power Game is a fast-paced, knowing, compelling novel.” 
  Evan Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Sea of Thunder
• “Everyone knows that Joe Nye is an expert on nuclear proliferation, but who knew that he is also an authority on fly fishing, bureaucratric infighting, and—I hope you are sitting down—sex? This novel is not only fun to read but provides an entirely new perspective on the normally sober field of ‘foreign affairs.’” 
  Richard Haass, New York Times bestselling author of The World
• “What’s it like inside the U.S. Government trying to fight the war on terrorism? Joe Nye draws from personal experience to tell us in this rousing novel about American officials trying to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. He has also concocted a witch’s brew of ambition, deceit, and betrayal—one that may startle some but will be hauntingly familiar to insiders. A man of the lamp as well as the arena, Joe Nye has found yet another career as a budding novelist.” 
  David Gergen, author of Eyewitness to Power
• “The Power Game is a beautifully crafted, poignantly told tale about a man of high principle who bites into the apple of power and loses everything he once held dear—family, friends, and very nearly his soul. This novel, which races just hours ahead of tomorrow’s headlines, is must reading for all who are tempted to make a pact with power without understanding that the devil really is in the deal.” 
  William S. Cohen, former Secretary of Defense and author of Dragon Fire
• “A realistic, entertaining, thought-provoking novel . . . Written by a respected author with an engaging style and . . . intimate knowledge of the territory.” 
  Publishers Weekly