Rubicon »

Lawrence Alexander was a Senate aide and has been involved in numerous political campaigns, both presidential and gubernatorial. He has taught at several universities and practiced law for a number of years. He lives in California.

Hoping to escape the political spotlight, Bobby Hart, senator from California, declined a presidential run. But while in Germany, the idealistic young politician discovers terrifying evidence of a conspiracy to destroy democracy in America—an unthinkable plot codenamed Rubicon.

Someone important is going to die, though Hart doesn't know who, or why, or when. Only two things are clear: it will happen some time before the upcoming election—and once it does, like Caesar's army crossing the fabled river on their relentless march toward Rome, there will be no turning back.

Caught in a desperate race against death and time, Bobby Hart must now expose an insidious nightmare that threatens every man, woman, and child in America. Because Rubicon is not about stealing a presidential election—it is about stealing a country.

Publishers Weekly

Alexander's mildly entertaining debut, a political thriller, gets off to a fast start, but suffers from imagination fatigue as it settles into a predictable course. Soon after Sen. Bobby Hart, a rising California Democrat, gets word that terrorists are planning to strike on American soil as the presidential race heats up, the killings, code-named "Rubicon," begin. The Democratic nominee falls victim to a suicide bomber in Los Angeles; the leading Republican suffers the same fate in Atlanta. Doggedly and almost single-handedly, Hart forages around until he figures out that Rubicon is not the work of Islamic extremists. Blatant similarities between the book's Republican administration and the current Bush administration may irk even hardcore Democrats, while a subplot involving Hart's emotionally fragile wife back in California verges on the silly. The story limps to the finish with a tedious courtroom scene. (May)

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