Truth like the sun / Jim Lynch

"This is a Borzoi book."

Lynch (Border Songs; The Highest Tide) is no stranger to the journalism field in the Pacific Northwest, having worked for the Seattle Times and the Oregonian. So one might suspect that the eager journalist in this novel, Helen Gulanos, might be more autobiographical than fictional. Covering a seemingly benign story about Roger Morgan, a rising candidate in the Seattle mayoral race, Helen slowly unravels the seedy underbelly of Seattle's early days and Roger's role in its corruption. Centered on the 1962 World's Fair and Roger Morgan's role in its success, the story unfolds through a series of flashbacks to a young Roger managing the spectacle of the fair while slipping away to gamble and drink. Lynch uses the World's Fair effectively as an entertaining atmosphere, introducing futurist thinking and bedazzling technologies, while illustrating the concealed, darker political moves that often push a city forward.