Chris Payne

High Crimes and Low Stakes Chris Payne

Publisher Marketing: The professors at the American University of the Southern Balkans, AUSB, have become complacent and resistant to change, so when a new reforming departmental chair is appointed with a brief to shake them up, they mount a witch hunt to have him fired. Meanwhile, the US president is trying to push forward a plan to replace all NATO airbases with stations of unmanned 'drones' capable of carrying nuclear weapons. He is aware that there will be a lot of resistance to his plan, so he decides to sell it secretly, one country at a time. The first to be approached is the small country in Southeast Europe where AUSB is located. An election is due and the pro-western prime minister must win if the plan is to succeed. When the CIA loses its two top operatives in the region after they are sent home for disciplinary reasons, a replacement 'dirty tricks' operator has to be found to fix the election. The CIA agent who is called in is also the provost of AUSB. Two political threads are interwoven in this book of intrigue, double-dealing and political corruption. The high crimes of government and the low stakes bitter politics of the university common room come together in this exciting and topical satire.