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Capital Crimes
John Tollinger, an assistant to the White House Chief of Staff, investigates a modern-day Rasputin who is beginning to wield an inordinate amount of power in Washington
381 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
11 people are currently reading
235 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Sanders
160 books372 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Lawrence Sanders was the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty mystery and suspense novels. The Anderson Tapes, completed when he was fifty years old, received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for best first novel. His prodigious oeuvre encompasses the Edward X. Delaney, Archy McNally, and Timothy Cone series, along with his acclaimed Commandment books. Stand-alone novels include Sullivan's Sting and Caper. Sanders remains one of America’s most popular novelists, with more than fifty million copies of his books in print. Also published as Mark Upton.
Lawrence Sanders was the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty mystery and suspense novels. The Anderson Tapes, completed when he was fifty years old, received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for best first novel. His prodigious oeuvre encompasses the Edward X. Delaney, Archy McNally, and Timothy Cone series, along with his acclaimed Commandment books. Stand-alone novels include Sullivan's Sting and Caper. Sanders remains one of America’s most popular novelists, with more than fifty million copies of his books in print. Also published as Mark Upton.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
February 19, 2017
Sanders shamelessly rewrote the Rasputin story. Foul!
February 26, 2023
O carte ce speram sa fie altceva, dar ma duce tare mult cu gandul la Rasputin; insa povestea este mult mai dezamagitoare.
September 24, 2022
Let me being with this: I love Lawrence Sanders' books. I've given him plenty of 5 stars, and I even like his "lesser" novels, like Love Song and Caper (a 5-star!), and I may be the only one who liked (not loved) his last mess-of-a-book Guilty Pleasures. Since he's passed, I have to re-read his books. There are a couple that I haven't read yet, and this was one of them. I finally got around to reading Capital Crimes, and...meh. It was fine. I thought it would have more twists and turns, like a typical Sanders book. And unfortunately it just...ended. I thought it was going somewhere interesting, and then it ended quickly, and not satisfyingly. Even a "meh" Sanders novel is worth reading, but I would put this near the bottom of my Sanders' favorite books list. Read his books in chronological order -- they are worth it.
December 6, 2020
Read in 1990. Master of suspense Sanders presents the ultimate Washington thriller.
February 24, 2023
O Irmão Kristos, pregador de barracão, torna-se amigo do presidente dos EUA, depois de lhe "salvar" o filho.
Esta é história de um homem que após ter aprendido todos os truques de adivinhação numa tenda de circo, monta o seu próprio negócio num velho armazém e começa uma subida social e política até à Casa Branca.
Insaciável sexualmente e viciado em vodka apimentada, vai criar adeptos, mas, também, fortes opositores.
A estória é bem contada e as personagens criadas com realismo.
Ficou, porém, um segredo por desvendar: como conseguia Kristos descobrir, olhando para as pessoas e, sem as ter visto antes, passagens desagradáveis do seu passado?
Os livros de Lawrence Sanders continuam a agradar-me. O resto não me interessa.
Esta é história de um homem que após ter aprendido todos os truques de adivinhação numa tenda de circo, monta o seu próprio negócio num velho armazém e começa uma subida social e política até à Casa Branca.
Insaciável sexualmente e viciado em vodka apimentada, vai criar adeptos, mas, também, fortes opositores.
A estória é bem contada e as personagens criadas com realismo.
Ficou, porém, um segredo por desvendar: como conseguia Kristos descobrir, olhando para as pessoas e, sem as ter visto antes, passagens desagradáveis do seu passado?
Os livros de Lawrence Sanders continuam a agradar-me. O resto não me interessa.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 5, 2024
It foreshadows a 90’s White House administration at any rate. Stark and crisp with a ‘start-up’ reverend respected for his free-enterprise skills and 90’s ‘wifery’ and almost the internet is there.
February 9, 2018
A little too much religious reference for me throughout the entire book.
April 4, 2019
Read my review here:
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/3118301
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/3118301
December 28, 2020
Great political drama! I really enjoyed this one!
June 21, 2021
Great thriller, with some great twist and analogies that will make you think. I enjoyed it immensely.
March 4, 2025
Very different than most Lawrence Sanders books. Hasn't aged particularly well.
July 2, 2010
Would it precipitate a national (or perhaps, international) crisis if a religious leader with tons of charisma began to exert undue influence upon the President of the United States? Would it matter if that religious leader was a charlatan? What if he actually had amazing powers? Would it matter which faith said leader adhered to?
Capital Crimes (shouldn’t it really be Capitol Crimes since it takes place in D.C.?) posits just such a situation. It’s impossible to answer the questions listed earlier without providing something of a spoiler, but the religious leader in question comes from a Swedenborgian background. Now, I’m unaware of any late 20th century Swedenborgians, but they would be the Bible-reading version of a free love cult. Why? They were rumored to have slept with non-married partners in order to prove that sex was not sinful because all humans were created in God’s image and God was without sin.
Note that I’m not buying into their theology. An image of a flawless subject or object would not necessarily be flawless itself. Yet, sex is the instrument that this religious leader used to exert his power, along with a lot of other amazing phenomena. I won’t spoil the details on the phenomena because part of the joy of reading this book is trying to figure out whether the leader is a charlatan or a genuine miracle worker. Sanders keeps the reader continuously off-balance on this issue by offering ambivalent evidence that seems definitive when taken in isolation.
The politics seems like a rerun of the ‘60s and ‘70s when high-profile Democrats decided to take on their incumbent President. One could particularly think of Eugene McCarthy and later, Robert F. Kennedy running against the incumbent Lyndon Johnson or John Anderson running as an independent against the Republican nominee, Ronald Reagan (perhaps, also, the formation of a third party under George Wallace as a further defection from the Democrats). If it wasn’t for these precedents, I’m not sure I would buy into the plan of one of the leading members of the fictional president’s party.
Nevertheless, this book was a page-turner for me. I was determined to find out if my charlatan/authentic theory was correct and whether the initial protagonist (a presidential staffer) and his ex-wife would get back together. I knew part of how the book had to end, but I didn’t extrapolate quite far enough. Capital Crimes is not a mystery, it’s a thriller—a thriller with a foreboding sense of impending disaster where you just don’t know from what direction the disaster will come.
Capital Crimes (shouldn’t it really be Capitol Crimes since it takes place in D.C.?) posits just such a situation. It’s impossible to answer the questions listed earlier without providing something of a spoiler, but the religious leader in question comes from a Swedenborgian background. Now, I’m unaware of any late 20th century Swedenborgians, but they would be the Bible-reading version of a free love cult. Why? They were rumored to have slept with non-married partners in order to prove that sex was not sinful because all humans were created in God’s image and God was without sin.
Note that I’m not buying into their theology. An image of a flawless subject or object would not necessarily be flawless itself. Yet, sex is the instrument that this religious leader used to exert his power, along with a lot of other amazing phenomena. I won’t spoil the details on the phenomena because part of the joy of reading this book is trying to figure out whether the leader is a charlatan or a genuine miracle worker. Sanders keeps the reader continuously off-balance on this issue by offering ambivalent evidence that seems definitive when taken in isolation.
The politics seems like a rerun of the ‘60s and ‘70s when high-profile Democrats decided to take on their incumbent President. One could particularly think of Eugene McCarthy and later, Robert F. Kennedy running against the incumbent Lyndon Johnson or John Anderson running as an independent against the Republican nominee, Ronald Reagan (perhaps, also, the formation of a third party under George Wallace as a further defection from the Democrats). If it wasn’t for these precedents, I’m not sure I would buy into the plan of one of the leading members of the fictional president’s party.
Nevertheless, this book was a page-turner for me. I was determined to find out if my charlatan/authentic theory was correct and whether the initial protagonist (a presidential staffer) and his ex-wife would get back together. I knew part of how the book had to end, but I didn’t extrapolate quite far enough. Capital Crimes is not a mystery, it’s a thriller—a thriller with a foreboding sense of impending disaster where you just don’t know from what direction the disaster will come.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2015
"Kristos snarls like a cornered beast, lurching about and clawing. He uses his hard strength like a bludgeon. He savages them. He pierces, rends, splits, and tears, full lips drawn back from animal teeth, claws unsheathed."
There are numerous fragments of "prose" as unbelievably bad as the above fragment that describes a sex scene in Capital Crimes (1989). I refuse to believe that Lawrence Sanders himself wrote this abomination of a book. It must have been written by a ghostwriter, and I am just curious why Mr. Sanders, a competent author of many solid crime novels, was so short of cash that he allowed to have his name soiled. Even I can write better than the anonymous hack responsible for this insult to the word "novel".
Not only is the author unable to write prose that can be read without giggling, but also the plot is ridiculous and full of clichés. Brother Kristos has "piercing eyes" and his gaze is so intense and powerful that almost all people are instantaneously hypnotized into following his preaching. He claims he is a "brother of Christ, an apostle sent by God to bring you salvation". When he is not sipping vodka straight from the bottle, eating herring fillets, and having sex with his female acolytes and followers, he is a seer, and has the powers of healing people and farm animals. When the hemophiliac son of the president of the United States hurts himself the good brother stops the bleeding and thus becomes the spiritual advisor to the president. He gradually increases his influence on politics and no wonder: the vice-president is a cretin, and high level government officials discuss politics on the level of kindergarten.
Of course the inspiration for the plot was the story of Grigori Rasputin who achieved similar position in the court of Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia. How can one botch such an enthralling story so badly? Capital Crimes is a Really Bad Book, whose every chapter, every page, and every passage richly deserve a big fat zero.
One star (so minuscule that one can see it only with an electron microscope).
There are numerous fragments of "prose" as unbelievably bad as the above fragment that describes a sex scene in Capital Crimes (1989). I refuse to believe that Lawrence Sanders himself wrote this abomination of a book. It must have been written by a ghostwriter, and I am just curious why Mr. Sanders, a competent author of many solid crime novels, was so short of cash that he allowed to have his name soiled. Even I can write better than the anonymous hack responsible for this insult to the word "novel".
Not only is the author unable to write prose that can be read without giggling, but also the plot is ridiculous and full of clichés. Brother Kristos has "piercing eyes" and his gaze is so intense and powerful that almost all people are instantaneously hypnotized into following his preaching. He claims he is a "brother of Christ, an apostle sent by God to bring you salvation". When he is not sipping vodka straight from the bottle, eating herring fillets, and having sex with his female acolytes and followers, he is a seer, and has the powers of healing people and farm animals. When the hemophiliac son of the president of the United States hurts himself the good brother stops the bleeding and thus becomes the spiritual advisor to the president. He gradually increases his influence on politics and no wonder: the vice-president is a cretin, and high level government officials discuss politics on the level of kindergarten.
Of course the inspiration for the plot was the story of Grigori Rasputin who achieved similar position in the court of Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia. How can one botch such an enthralling story so badly? Capital Crimes is a Really Bad Book, whose every chapter, every page, and every passage richly deserve a big fat zero.
One star (so minuscule that one can see it only with an electron microscope).
September 5, 2012
Brother Kristos claims to be the brother of Jesus, preaches faith, practices faith healing, and seems to be able to read minds and tell the future. He comes to the notice of the First Family, and seems to miraculously heal the President's son. Soon Brother Kristos is influencing policy and making staff members and party leaders very, very nervous about the lessening separation of church and state. Various plots are hatched to dispatch Kristos by various means.
Brother Kristos appears to be a huckster, but he's also done some things that are hard to explain logically or scientifically. Whether he's really got some kind of supernatural power is also of interest to the players. The plot is interesting enough, and I was sufficiently curious about the answer to this question, as well as the rest of the surrounding intrigue. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I connected with any of the characters. It was almost impossible to find someone to root for, as everyone had something disgusting about his or her character. I was especially repulsed by the scenes of Brother Kristos having sexual relations with various women. I was disappointed by the ending as well, as I felt there were several loose ends remaining. I was mildly captivated while reading it and found it hard to put down, but I currently feel like it was kind of a waste of time.
Brother Kristos appears to be a huckster, but he's also done some things that are hard to explain logically or scientifically. Whether he's really got some kind of supernatural power is also of interest to the players. The plot is interesting enough, and I was sufficiently curious about the answer to this question, as well as the rest of the surrounding intrigue. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I connected with any of the characters. It was almost impossible to find someone to root for, as everyone had something disgusting about his or her character. I was especially repulsed by the scenes of Brother Kristos having sexual relations with various women. I was disappointed by the ending as well, as I felt there were several loose ends remaining. I was mildly captivated while reading it and found it hard to put down, but I currently feel like it was kind of a waste of time.
July 28, 2025
Such a weird book but I enjoyed and read the entire book really quickly. Never really got bored and there were always plot twists. Talks about separation of church and state
January 27, 2011
I stayed with this book mainly to see if the analogous story of Rasputin was carried out to the same conclusion as the original Rasputin. It was, even to the violent ending which showed how extremely difficult it was to actually kill Brother Kristos (the modern day Rasputin). Also repeated was Rasputin’s powerful hold on women, including Kristos’ seduction of the wives of the VP and the presidential chief of staff, among others. I consider this book to be good, light entertainment, and give it a 6.
December 8, 2016
That was a chore. A little far fetched. I can't even begin to describe it. That would take more time than I care to devote. But, there where a few glimmers of the Lawrence Sanders that I love. Not many, but they were there. And, the ending, I mean the very end, was pretty good.
April 4, 2009
Much better than I even remembered. Excellent.
June 30, 2011
Just okay. Didn't really like the end much.
April 3, 2013
Easy reading, very outdated but then again, it was a used book when I bought it so I wasn't surprised :-) A little bit too much like Rasputin, the author could have don better. A lot better.
June 12, 2013
Cassettes.
June 26, 2013
A good page-turning vacation read.
March 1, 2016
PB-B @ 1989, 10/90. A power-crazed holy man has convinced the President that he can heal the President's son. Suspenseful and somewhat dirty. Okay.
May 8, 2016
5-7-2016 This is a definite page turner and some of the characters seems real and yet outrageous. I was disappointed in the ending. Oh well.
July 21, 2016
Not the best book I've ever read. It was a little lacking on 'umpf'...this is the first time I have read anything by this author...hopefully this other books are better :-/
March 17, 2012
I did not like this book. It was all I could do to finish it!
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews