Showing results by author "Jake Tapper" in All Categories

It's 1977. Ike and Lucy, Senator Charlie and Margaret Marder's kids, are grown up—and in trouble. US Marine Ike has gone somewhat off the grid, working on Evel Knievel's pit crew in Montana, when—after a bar fight—he has to flee a neo-Nazi gang and seek refuge in the woods with a group of Vietnam veterans. Lucy, a reporter, has become the star of the brand-new Washington DC tabloid, the Sentinel, and is breaking all sorts of stories about a serial killer and falling in with the Lyons, the wealthy family that owns the newspaper.

Charlie Marder is an unlikely congressman. Thrust into office by his family ties after his predecessor died mysteriously, Charlie is struggling to navigate the dangerous waters of 1950s Washington, DC, alongside his young wife, Margaret, a zoologist with ambitions of her own. Amid the swirl of glamorous and powerful political leaders and deal makers, a mysterious fatal car accident thrusts Charlie and Margaret into an underworld of backroom deals, secret societies, and a plot that could change the course of history.

At 6:00 a.m. on the morning of October 3, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating was viciously attacked by Taliban insurgents. The 53 U.S. troops, having been stationed at the bottom of three steep mountains, were severely outmanned by nearly 400 Taliban fighters. Though the Americans ultimately prevailed, their casualties made it one of the war's deadliest battles for U.S. forces. And after more than three years in that dangerous and vulnerable valley a mere 14 miles from the Pakistan border, the U.S. abandoned and bombed the camp.

Charlie and Margaret Marder, political stars in 1960s Washington DC, know all too well how the tangled web of power in the nation's capital can operate. Attorney General Robert Kennedy needs them to look into a potential threat not only to the presidency but to the security of the United States itself. Charlie and Margaret quickly find themselves on a flight to sunny Los Angeles, where they’ll face off against a dazzling world of stars and studios. At the center of their investigation is Frank Sinatra, a close friend of President John F. Kennedy and a rumored mob crony.

A las 5:58 am del 3 de octubre de 2009, a justo 14 millas de distancia de la frontera con Pakistán, fue despiadadamente atacado el Puesto de Combate Keating, ubicado en un aterradoramente vulnerable terreno en Afganistán. A pesar de que 53 norteamericanos hicieron frente a casi 400 guerrilleros del Taliban, sus muertes convirtieron esta batalla en la más sangrienta y fatal de la guerra para los Estados Unidos en ese año.