Strangle Hold

Strangle Hold is the second Tim Lyon mystery from Jerome Doolittle, with the former newspaperman investigator working a State Department leak case that involves a young analyst, a Soviet contact, and the kind of post-Reagan-era Washington spy material the form was producing in the late 80s. Doolittle, a working journalist and a Carter White House staffer, brings the kind of insider DC texture the form does not require.

Doolittle's strength in Strangle Hold is the careful institutional rendering of the State Department and the press corps that covers it. The diplomatic-receptions material, the press-secretary politics, and the specific way contemporary leaks worked in the late-80s Beltway are all rendered with the kind of attention only an insider could provide. Fans of Ross Thomas's Washington thrillers or Charles McCarry's Paul Christopher sequence will recognize the careful political-novel register.

The plot is competent rather than memorable. The texture is the actual pleasure.

Three stars. A small underread DC series. Recommended for readers of political thriller fiction set in real Washington rather than Hollywood Washington. The Strangle Hold Jerome Doolittle novel works best for readers who already have a feel for the period.