It’s election season in Las Vegas and someone is murdering voters. Two local activists from opposite ends of the left-wing/right-wing divide are killed inside electronic voting machines at Clark County polling centers. Temo McCarthy, a voter registration volunteer from Los Angeles, assists the FBI as they link the killings to a broader terrorist attack on the general election.
Dmitri Ragano is an author, screenwriter and journalist based in Southern California. He has also worked as an Internet consultant and technology manager in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Silicon Valley.
I should start with a cautionary note that this is actually book two of a series, the first being "Employee of the Year", and while there are throwbacks to the first book, there is enough explanations that if you are like this reader and have not read book one, you will be just fine.
"The Voting Machine" is a fast paced adventure novel that is bound to keep you reading regardless of the hour or other personal obligations. Like fast food fries, it is addicting in a way that you scarcely realize until you look up and realize how many fries you have eaten on the drive home. Sadly like fries, this book will leave you asking for more, which will most likely come in the form of book 3. If you are one of those readers that wants their questions answered and clean outcomes at the end of 346 pages, you will walk away hungry and looking for more.
The story itself is a crazy adventure that requires a slight amount of reader acceptance that somehow one person can always seem to be in the wrong place (or right place) at the wrong time. This is not a new characteristic to stories, there are no lack of books and movies that require the same level of acceptance of convenient character interaction. If the reader is willing to provide the right indulgences, the writing and the story will not disappoint you.
If you need some junk food, this book is sure to satisfy.
The Voting Machine is an unflinching atmospheric murder-mystery.
Temo McCarthy is the main character who has a connection with the murdered voters. The FBI decide to include Temo in the investigation of the mysterious deaths of two voters.
An investigation reveals something even more sinister, and a simple murder-mystery is turned upside down.
Right or wrong, true vs. false is thrown out the window. There is a sliding grey scale that each character in this book must venture and decide upon. It is a realistic point in certain aspects, such as Brenda with her PTSD and Anabelle's rehabilitation centers. The reader is drawn into a provocative story line that is honest and gritty.
This is the second book in a series of Temo McCarthy stories. I have never read the first book, but The Voting Machine stands well on it's own. I did not miss any character subplots or extraneous references that would have muddled a great book.
In the sequel to Employee of The Year, the plot thickens as Temo finds himself in Las Vegas after a string of bad luck and choices. Just when things are looking up for Temo, he's knocked back down.
He ends up working with the voter registration programme he encounters a number of new characters and finds himself in even more danger.
In book 2 of this trilogy Temo's life has more twists and turns as he unearths a part of a bigger evil. Seldom are sequels better than the first offering but this one definitely is.