Rat-A-Tat-Tat

How fragile our freedoms! They were dearly bought and jealously guarded. They were purchased with blood and are now protected by our political processes.

Alice and Sam, late-life lovers, experience both extremes of these actions. Sam is machine-gunned while transiting the Straits of Hormuz. The two lovers then become deeply involved in a bitter presidential election while trying to maintain their hectic and complicated personal lives.

Their very successful but highly divergent careers and lifestyles have been a continuing challenge to their love affair. Now, they have been shanghaied by their friend, former Georgia Governor Saxton, to help run his presidential campaign. They must deal with all the distractions while maintaining the central feature of their lives - their love for each other.

"Rat-A-Tat-Tat" immerses you in action-laced adventure from the first paragraphs, when Persian Gulf pirates hijack Sam, to the unexpected conclusion with multiple surprises in the East Room of the White House. Throughout, Alice Dean and Sam Hickey struggle to maintain their recently re-established romance and their multifaceted professional lives.

The reader is led through the campaign, Sam's development and implementation of an innovative pipeline in Saudi Arabia, Alice's efforts to maintain her coveted deanships at two universities, and, most importantly, their relationship. It all finally culminates in a fabulous, unexpected event in the East Room of the White House.