Con2 — John T. Cullen

CON2: Autumn of the Republic is the most important and relevant political thriller you will read in your lifetime. That's because the stakes cannot be higher - the 1787 Constitution is about to go in the trash, replaced by a document from hell, if enough followers send a dangerous demagogue to the White House. Any year now, we will have a Second Constitutional Convention (CON2), the first such assembly of the states since the Founding Fathers of 1776 became the Framing Fathers of 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. It will be the worst mistake we ever make. The author wrote his classic political thriller in 1992 as a silver bullet to kill this werewolf before it ever shows its teeth. CON2 must be killed dead before it can ever happen. A secret hidden in plain sight is Article V, a ticking time bomb embedded in the U.S. Constitution. In a dangerous election year, when at least one ranting demagogue leads the pack racing toward the White House and its nuclear triggers, the danger is greater than ever. In a few vague words that leave much to the imagination, Article V lets us change our Constitution one amendment at a time, or to rewrite it, or just totally scrap it and go for broke with something utterly new and crazy. Can we really improve on the genius of the Framing Fathers of 1787 in Philadelphia? Do we dare? Once CON2 gavels into session, our world is up for grabs - as the author demonstrates between the lines, without ever losing sight of his primary mission: an entertaining and romantic suspense thriller. Two young U.S. Army officers, serving in differing intelligence units in Washington, D.C. as the convention begins, join forces in a puzzling murder investigation. Captain David Gordon and Lieutenant Victoria (Tory) Breen are on the trail of a missing Coast Guard computer genius. The trail takes them to a virtual world of digital commerce (presciently envisioned years ago, and still vibrantly original). The hidden worlds of the CloudMaster network take them to a conspiracy involving the vice president (murdered by domestic terrorists a year ago) and from there to a cabal of generals, admirals, and others who are determined to save us from ourselves, scrap all that evil liberal and godless nonsense in the Constitution, and provide us with a robust scriptural tyranny that would make Oliver Cromwell, Savanarola, or Cotton Mather envious. The novel was never intended to be a legal analysis or a 300 page footnote in fine print. The author's design is to tell a gripping suspense thriller with a solid romantic story line, leaving the enormous story of CON2 sufficiently but not overwhelmingly displayed as a backdrop. It's a love story, a murder mystery, a conspiracy thriller, and above all a good read. It's not a history of the universe or a road map for galactic hitchhikers, but a good solid story that keeps its feet on the ground and its head low while the world explodes all around it. This was (and still is) the first novel to tackle the concept of a second Constitutional Convention in a meaningful way, thinking it through step by step without bogging down in boring detail that would break the story spell. The author's theory was, and remains unchanged, that the story of CON2 will tell itself as a vast background scrim, while the drama of David, Tory, and supporting characters like Ib Shoob, Jet, and Rocky Devereaux plays out in the foreground. If you love intense, brainy thrillers like Seven Days in May, Three Days of the Condor, The Parallax View, or The Lost Constitution, here is a powerful companion story. New Author Preface contains fascinating background details and fascinating info -- more at generalsofoctober website.