{"id":1711778,"date":"2022-10-26T06:30:14","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T10:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1711778"},"modified":"2022-10-26T11:09:47","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T15:09:47","slug":"jim-geraghtys-gathering-five-storms-roasts-our-political-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jim-geraghtys-gathering-five-storms-roasts-our-political-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Geraghty\u2019s \u201cGathering Five Storms\u201d Roasts Our Political Class"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjim-geraghtys-gathering-five-storms-roasts-our-political-class%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1711778&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Biden-Saudi-political-class-2.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><strong>Jim Geraghty\u2019s day job is keeping politicians honest at National Review.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The site\u2019s senior political correspondent has his hands full with the current Beltway bunch.\u00a0Geraghty still finds time to pen spy novels with a cheeky sense of humor in between all the fact checking.<\/p>\n<p>His \u201cDangerous Clique\u201d saga continues with \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Gathering-Five-Storms-Dangerous-Clique-ebook\/dp\/B0B7KJ4YJ8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gathering Five Storms: A Dangerous Clique Novel.<\/a>\u201d The story finds our heroes grappling with the fruits of their success \u2013 old enemies trying to stop them from saving the day \u2026 again.<\/p>\n<p>The novel flashes back to the group\u2019s first battles while showing Katrina and Alec prepare for the biggest adventure of all.<\/p>\n<p>Parenthood.<\/p>\n<p>We spoke with Geraghty about the third book in the series, how he avoids partisanship in his prose and if our growing distrust of institutions will flavor his spy saga.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HiT: Your heroes have logged enough adventures to draw some \u2026 unwanted attention, we learn in the new book. What made you pursue that angle for Gathering Five Storms?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Geraghty:<\/strong> When I began the series with \u201cBetween Two Scorpions,\u201d I wanted my characters to be well-established in their careers and relationships, to have a little seasoning and wear-and-tear on them \u2013 and the dynamic of the team having been friends for years was central to the concept.<\/p>\n<p>I was pleasantly surprised how many readers wanted to hear about the team\u2019s origin story, but I knew I didn\u2019t want to write a straight prequel. (I find most prequels feel trapped by the sense that we, the readers or audience, know how things have to end.)<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Three Martini Lunch: Gathering Five Storms: Previewing Jim\u2019s New Novel <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/E809H1qgfX\">https:\/\/t.co\/E809H1qgfX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ricochet (@Ricochet) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ricochet\/status\/1556696535500406784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 8, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So, I explored the idea of a sequel where the team\u2019s challenge is driven by the consequences of that first mission, and how both the reader and the team\u2019s FBI liason, Elaine, need to hear the full story of that mission and the team\u2019s formation to figure out who\u2019s after them. (It was also a way to comment a bit on how American life has changed from 2003 to the early Biden years.)<\/p>\n<p>It seemed like the right way to keep the story moving forward. I also like the idea of our actions having consequences we usually can\u2019t see at the time.<\/p>\n<p>When Chris Clairemont was writing the \u201cX-Men\u201d comics, fans (and one of the artists) used to complain that he never allowed the team to enjoy a \u201cclean win.\u201d I think that\u2019s a pretty realistic depiction of life, that good can triumph over evil, but we rarely see the good guys completely vanquish the bad guys, with no cost or sacrifice.<\/p>\n<p>The idea of the team\u2019s first mission seeming like a success, but inadvertently planting the seeds of this major threat nearly two decades later, appealed to my sense that life is rarely as simple as we would like it to be.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HiT: The book brims with information that most readers will find new, if not frightening. The Grand Bazaar \u2026 onion-style levels of encryption, overlapping spy schemes and more. Can you share how your research impacts your storytelling, and the tension between what \u2018could\u2019 be true and what actually is at the moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Geraghty:<\/strong> You could argue that I sell books to support my book-buying habit, and the need to research various esoteric topics is a wonderful way to justify buying all kinds of books. I more or less expect these books to send readers Googling to see just how much of it is real, which is most of it. Almost everything I put in the books \u2013 locations, histories, technologies \u2013 is either real, or a slightly-altered version of what is in the real world.<\/p>\n<p>The Dos Ojos cave network outside Tulum, the Jetsons-esque hotel on an island in South Korea, they\u2019re all real places. One of the more unnerving aspects of writing this series is that if I can imagine it, there\u2019s likely something in the real world that is at least in the ballpark of what that crazy idea is.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/mission-impossible-franchise\/\"><strong>RELATED: IS \u2018MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE\u2019 THE LAST REAL MOVIE FRANCHISE?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I knew the team would need a hacker, and that a lot of thrillers, and in particularly the ones that Hollywood turns into films, tend to portray hacking and cyber-security in spectacularly unrealistic, over-dramatized ways.<\/p>\n<p>The sequence where Dee analyzes and explains the \u201cGrand Bazaar\u201d \u2013 a fictional E-Bay for national secrets that is based upon what eventually became the Dark Web \u2013 is part of my continuing effort to portray hacking in ways that are both accurate and entertaining.<\/p>\n<p>The one real-world aspect that I alter or tweak are the villains; the crimes and brutality of ISIS or al-Qaeda or the Wagner Group are just too horrific to make the centerpiece of what is hopefully a fun and thrilling story.<\/p>\n<p>I want a villain who you can feel good rooting against, so they tend to be mercenaries, megalomaniacs and offshoot splinter groups of those familiar real-world menaces. I think the best villains are like Belloq from \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark,\u201d Hans Gruber from \u201cDie Hard,\u201d Catwoman from the Batman series \u2013 you hate what they\u2019re doing, and they can be absolutely ruthless, but you kind of enjoy watching them work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HiT: What part of that research has intrigued you, or just plain scared you, the most?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Geraghty:<\/strong> The \u201cFive Storms\u201d of the title are this rumor\/theory in the criminal underworld, that a series of inter-connected crises are about to bring global chaos, and that it\u2019s time to batten down the hatches, because the next decade or so is going to bring violent anarchy to all kinds of places around the world \u2013 a slow-motion apocalypse.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve lived through a hell of a lot in the past few decades \u2013 9\/11, the Iraq War, the Great Recession, ISIS, school shootings, Covid-19, riots, supply chain problems, runaway inflation.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re around my age, you grew up with Reagan in the White House, and many of us knew the world was a dangerous place, but felt reassured because there were good, competent people in charge of the U.S. government and allied governments who would do everything possible to steer the world away from disaster.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I suspect a lot of people aren\u2019t so sure about either the benevolence of those in charge, or their competence.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/colbert-biden-karine-jean-pierre\/\"><strong>RELATED: \u2018TRUTH TO POWER\u2019 COLBERT FAWNS OVER BIDEN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A portion of this novel was written as the Taliban was finalizing its reconquest of Afghanistan, and that was a vivid illustration of how things that at one point were considered really important to the United States can fall apart really quickly.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s this recurring anxiety of the protagonists, of wondering if their bosses and their bosses\u2019 bosses are up to the challenge of what they\u2019re facing.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of those problems I mentioned above, particularly 9\/11 and Covid-19, seemed to come out of nowhere and changed the world dramatically, almost overnight. And there\u2019s the recurring pattern of our leaders not being straight with us \u2014 Obama told us that ISIS was the jayvee team, Trump told us the virus was going to disappear one day, and Biden assured us we wouldn\u2019t see helicopters evacuating diplomats from Afghanistan and that inflation was transitory.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re constantly being told \u201cdon\u2019t worry about it,\u201d right before things get really bad.<\/p>\n<p>I think the zeitgeist is wondering what\u2019s coming next and wondering whether our sense of order and stability is an illusion \u2013 or that the post-Cold-War generation of American leaders have squandered our inheritance and left us dangerously unprepared for the new threats on the horizon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HiT: You sub-titled your first book in the series, \u2018A Dangerous Clique Novel.\u2019 You clearly hoped to have a franchise all your own, and now you have just that. Has that journey been what you expected, creatively speaking?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Geraghty:<\/strong> Pretty much. I like the \u201cLongmire\u201d television series, but I really like Craig Johnson\u2019s novels better, because the story moves at this relaxed pace that feels like you\u2019re just hanging around with the characters. It allows the characters to breathe and banter and bicker, to reveal a bit more of themselves as characters, instead of racing from scene to scene to resolve the whodunnit.<\/p>\n<p>In the course of the stories, about three years have gone by. Major characters in \u201cBetween Two Scorpions\u201d have passed away. Katrina and Alec deal with starting a family. The characters have lived through the Covid-19 pandemic, with aging parents, changes in administrations, changes in the leadership of their agency.<\/p>\n<p>One of the things I admire most about, say, \u201cStranger Things\u201d is that I think it would be an entertaining show even if the characters weren\u2019t dealing with monsters and lab experiments gone awry \u2013 that we would enjoy watching what\u2019s going on in Hawkins even if it was just a regular Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d like for readers to feel that way about my protagonists, that as much as they might enjoy the plot, they would enjoy watching the team on a \u201cmundane\u201d mission \u2013 which is sort of that my recent short story, \u201cSaving the Devil,\u201d was.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HiT: You\u2019re a right-leaning journalist and op-ed writer. To read your books, though, is to find adventures without any overt (or even subtle) ideological bent. Can we assume that\u2019s part of your mission statement? Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Geraghty:<\/strong> I guess subtle is in the eye of the beholder. There was a good review of \u201cBetween Two Scorpions\u201d on Amazon that suggested my worldview is very clear from the narrative choices in the books: \u201cAnyone familiar with his journalism will recognize the nods towards the primacy of family life: respect for law enforcement and first responders; support for the second amendment; the importance of hard work; the essential goodness of American traditions; and, ultimately, the existence of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d like to think that someone who disagrees with me politically can still enjoy these stories, because ultimately, they\u2019re supposed to be fun, a thrill ride with quick-witted, snarky, flawed but good people trying to make the world a better and safer place, in the face of some very unorthodox and menacing threats.<\/p>\n<p>Both \u201cBetween Two Scorpions\u201d and \u201cGathering Five Storms\u201d deal with this theme asking of how divided America can get, and how much we can turn against each other, before we stop functioning as a country.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u201cBy every measure, the operation was a success, but it marked the first time Katrina Leonidivna had ever vomited on her target.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/bookbeginnings?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#bookbeginnings<\/a>: GATHERING FIVE STORMS by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jimgeraghty?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@jimgeraghty<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/newbook?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#newbook<\/a> in Geraghty\u2019s Dangerous Clique series.<\/p>\n<p>Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YcWSNrgvqZ\">https:\/\/t.co\/YcWSNrgvqZ<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6yq0CVGDQx\">pic.twitter.com\/6yq0CVGDQx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Gilion Dumas (@GilionDumas) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GilionDumas\/status\/1570833191623340032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 16, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I don\u2019t want to give any spoilers, but let\u2019s just say that the villainous plots in both of those stories involve exploiting and maximizing Americans\u2019 current divisions and the instinct to suspect the worst of each other. And the seemingly worsening mistrust and division in the country contrasts with the members of the team, with their disparate viewpoints and ways of looking at life and the world, who manage to put aside their differences and unite in pursuit of a common goal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HiT: We\u2019re living in a world of 24\/7 content, and every platform needs new stories to share. Have you been approached about bringing the Clique to screens large or small? If not, where do you think these heroes would fit in best?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Geraghty:<\/strong> No nibbles on the line yet, and while I certainly wasn\u2019t counting on it, I\u2019d certainly like to see that happen. I think each novel could translate well to an eight to ten-episode season of a streaming series.<\/p>\n<p>I think we\u2019re still culturally digesting the events surrounding the pandemic, and I think <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Hunting-Four-Horsemen-Dangerous-Clique\/dp\/1733734635\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cHunting Four Horsemen\u201d<\/a> had something unique to say about our fears of living in an effectively borderless world, where a virus emerging in some far-off corner of China can suddenly turn your life upside down and perhaps even kill you.<\/p>\n<p>One of the traditional factors limiting the use of biological warfare was that it was too dangerous, because it could all-too-easily spread to your own population. But what happens if someone can engineer a virus that only targets certain genes?<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, our world is still plagued \u2013 no pun intended \u2013 with people who hate other racial and ethnic groups, from the Balkans to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/hollywood-china-box-office\/\">Chinese Uighur camps.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve seen lots of \u201cwe\u2019ve got to stop the bioweapon\u201d thrillers, but off the top of my head, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen a thriller willing to explore the horrifying potential of an \u201cethnic bioweapon.\u201d Then again, maybe that sort of material is too realistic and scary to make for a fun series.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HiT: Can we assume a fourth adventure is on the way \u2026 anything you can tease about it, if so?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Geraghty:<\/strong> Yes. A good thriller writer always wants to leave his audience wanting more and \u201cGathering Five Storms\u201d concludes with two chapters that something like the equivalent of the Marvel post-credit scenes, hinting at what\u2019s coming in some future story.<\/p>\n<p>First, the end of \u201cBetween Two Scorpions\u201d dipped a toe into the spiritual or supernatural waters, with certain characters noting odd coincidences and starting to believe that something beyond this earth, akin to angels and demons, was influencing the actions of people.<\/p>\n<p>That theme was largely put on the back burner of the science-focused \u201cHunting Four Horsemen,\u201d but it returns vividly in the final act of \u201cGathering Five Storms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The next story will definitely provide answers, or at least a clear sense of what the characters believe is happening, although different characters may come to different conclusions about whether or not God and the Devil are attempting to play chess with their lives.<\/p>\n<p>Second, since the earliest chapters of \u201cBetween Two Scorpions,\u201d my protagonists have feared an unidentified mole within the CIA. In the final chapter of the latest book, the identity of the mole is revealed, and the mole will be a major antagonist in the next novel.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HiT: We\u2019re living in a time of deep distrust of our institutions\u2026 do you think that will increasingly impact the saga moving forward?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Geraghty:<\/strong> That is a great question. There\u2019s a little bit of an acknowledgment of that distrust in the concept; the team is nicknamed a \u201cclique\u201d because they minimize how much they work with the rest of the CIA, FBI, NSA, etc. That reluctance to work with the rest of the government is because they don\u2019t trust, or have much faith, in the larger institutions.<\/p>\n<p>The difference is that my protagonists think the U.S. national security agencies are slow-moving, bureaucratic, risk-averse, and increasingly afraid of telling elected leaders things they don\u2019t want to hear, and I suspect the deep distrust of our institutions you\u2019re referring to has more to do with Peter Strzok, RussiaGate, the \u2018Deep State,\u2019 and so on.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think you can look honestly at institutions like the CIA and FBI and not see some concerning flaws \u2013 at minimum groupthink, some very convenient leaking of information, and either increasing politicization, or blas\u00e9 or cavalier attitude towards the public perception of these institutions becoming politicized.<\/p>\n<p>Way back in 2018, I reported on retired FBI agents who said they were uncomfortable with former FBI director Jim Comey choosing to embrace his role as a #Resistance hero. I also wonder if lawmakers are really willing to hear what the intelligence community is trying to tell them, or whether they greet each intel briefing with a subtext of, \u201ctell me why I\u2019m right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The good news is, in every \u201cDangerous Clique\u201d novel, there\u2019s somebody out there, up to no good, whose agenda is beyond the pale, no matter where you stand on the American political spectrum. And at some point early in the story, the team will spot the threat.<\/p>\n<p>Katrina and Alec and Ward and Dee and Raquel and Elaine have different political views, different backgrounds, different religions and beliefs, and different philosophies and outlooks on life. But they all will, with some bumps in the road \u2013 start hunting down the threat \u2013 and then it\u2019s a race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jim Geraghty\u2019s day job is keeping politicians honest at National Review. The site\u2019s senior political correspondent has his hands full with the current Beltway bunch.\u00a0Geraghty still finds time to pen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1711781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1711778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1711778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1711781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1711778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1711778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1711778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}