Dead Politician Society

Robin Spano

2010 • 325 pages

Ratings4

Average rating3.3

When the mayor keels over dead in the middle of a speech, a clandestine student society immediately takes credit for his demise. Their mission is to create a perfect political system by any means at their disposal. Clare Vengel, a rookie officer fresh from the police academy and beyond bored with her routine as a beat cop, volunteers to go undercover as a student to infiltrate the secretive organization. A streetwise amateur mechanic, Clare takes a dim view of book smarts--she is of the opinion that higher education is for people who can't handle the real world. In short order, she alienates a popular professor and begins to lose the respect of her police superiors. Soon, another politician is killed, and Clare steps up her clandestine involvement with the suspect students. When two more politicians die, the race begins to apprehend the culprits before her own duplicity can be revealed.

Genre

Fiction

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Series

Featured Series

2 primary books

#1 in Clare Vengel Undercover

Clare Vengel Undercover is a 2-book series with 2 released primary works first released in 2010 with contributions by Robin Spano.

Popular Reviews

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Jess N

As soon as I opened the book to its first page, I was struck by how long it had been since I'd read a mystery novel. To be completely honest I left mystery novels behind in my Nancy Drew days, in favor of more fantasy books. It's still a mystery (pun intended) to me why this shift occurred, but perhaps it was what I needed at that point in time. Mystery took a back seat and I forgot how amazing it can be to become absorbed in a particularly harrowing sequence of deaths.

That being said, of course you can ascertain that I found myself hooked! Clare Vengel is, in my mind, a much cooler and much more sassy Nancy Drew. She is the undercover cop I wish I was. Whereas Nancy snuck around in turtlenecks and dresses, Clare Vengel rides around on a Triumph motorcycle in leather and designer jeans. Her wit is deliciously acerbic, and she can hold her own with any man that comes her way. In other words, Clare is my kind of girl!

In this first installment of Robin Spano's series, Clare is asked to pose as a college student to discover who is behind the murders of several politicians. As she navigates this new group of people, she finds herself becoming a little closer to them than she originally intended to get. I must admit that I was extremely impressed with the way the story was told. The chapters alternate between the perspectives of the people Clare finds herself amongst, and the story becomes a giant puzzle.

I found myself gathering intel that even the detectives didn't have (one of the perks of being omniscient) and working to solve the murder myself. Isn't that the best part of a mystery novel? I guarantee that those who read these books often would have been able to uncover the ending, however I was blown away by it! As hard as I tried, and as eagerly as I read, I wasn't able to put together who the murderer really was. In fact, I literally gasped out loud at the end.

I'll stop rambling now and end this review with what I'm sure you've already gathered (you sleuth you) from my review above. I adored this book! I am a huge fan of Clare and an even greater fan of her creator Robin Spano. I eagerly look forward to the next installment! I can't wait to see what Clare has in store for her next, or what lengths she will go to in an effort to solve it.

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