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Thomas Dunne Books, Dec 2006
Reviewed by Barbara Fielding
SPINNING DIXIE is the fifth installment in the Jonah Eastman series. In
this smart and funny tale, Jonah Eastman is the newly resigned Press
Secretary for the President of the U.S. He resigned as a favor to
President Truitt. Someone had to take the heat off the President after his
offhand remarks about a terrorist bomber caused a media frenzy, so Jonah
reluctantly took the fall. As Jonah is packing his office to leave the
White House, a beautiful woman comes to the gate of 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue to hand-deliver a letter. The letter is from Claudine Polk, a
southern belle who was his first love. She needs Jonah's help to save her
Tennessee Plantation, Rattle & Snap, from her soon to be ex-husband.
Jonah believes he was born to be in a sea of trouble and he has a talent
for sorting it all out. In fact, he is at his best in a crisis. He is a
Beltway pollster turned spin doctor and the grandson of a Jewish mobster,
the late Mickey Price. His grandfather was the legendary owner of an
Atlantic City casino. With his White House connections, Washington agency
contacts and the negotiating skills learned from his gangster grandfather,
he is a force to be reckoned with and Claudine Polk is counting on it.
SPINNING DIXIE opens in 2003 and alternates between flashbacks to the
summer of 1980 when Jonah first fell in love with Claudine Polk. The time
shifts make the story a bit choppy, but it is a necessary element to the
story.
The author, Eric Dezenhall, has created a fresh and interesting character
in Jonah Eastman---he isn't a reincarnation of other characters of popular
series fiction. What motivates him and how he goes about in the world
is...well, different. Being in Jonah's head is entertaining and a bit like
being in an altered universe. He is a family man but the wife and children
seem to be window dressing. This is the one issue I had with this
book--Jonah is a vivid character but I was unable to connect with the
other characters because they didn't feel as fully developed.
Eric Denzenhall is also founder and CEO of Denzenhall Resources, a crisis
management firm.The Jonah Eastman series begins with MONEY WANDERS (2003),
JACKIE DISASTER (2003), SHAKEDOWN BEACH (2004), and TURNPIKE FLAMEOUT
(2005).
February 2007
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