"The president has gone way too far. These are practically dictatorial methods we're talking about. . . ."

Sixteen years before Democratic Senator Bruce Jansen was elected president of the United States, a PR stunt brought together five very different people: fourteen-year-old Dorothy "Doggie" Rogers, small-town sheriff T. Perkins, single mother Rosalie Lee, well-known journalist John Bugatti, and the teenaged son of one of Jansen's employees, Wesley Barefoot. In spite of their differences, the five remain bonded by their shared experience and devotion to their candidate (with Doggie and Wesley integral players in the campaign team that elevated Jansen to the Oval Office).

For Doggie, Jansen's election is a personal victory: A job in the White House with Wesley. Proof to her Republican father that she was right to support Jansen. The rise of an intelligent, clear-headed leader with her same ideals. But the triumph is short-lived: Jansen's pregnant wife is assassinated on election night, and the alleged mastermind behind the shooting is none other than Doggie's own father.

When Jansen ascends to the White House, he is a changed man, determined to end gun violence by any means necessary. Rights are taken away as quickly as weapons. International travel becomes impossible. Checkpoints and roadblocks destroy infrastructure. The media is censored. Militias declare civil war on the government. The country is in chaos, and Jansen's former friends each find themselves fighting a very different battle, for themselves, their rights, their country . . . and, in Doggie's case, the life of her father, who just may be innocent.

A breakneck thriller filled with action, conspiracies, and deadly consequences, The Washington Decree is a timely, all-too-real look at the dark side of American politics.