{"product_id":"beat-the-devils-9781538719459b","title":"Beat the Devils","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis inventive, page-turning crime thriller with \"palpable emotional depth\" (\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Book Review) envisions a world in which the Red Scare never ended.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUSA, 1958. President Joseph McCarthy sits in the White House, elected on a wave of populist xenophobia and barely-concealed anti-Semitism. The country is in the firm grip of McCarthy's Hueys, a secret police force evolved from the House Un-American Activities Committee. Hollywood's sparkling vision of the American dream has been suppressed; its remaining talents forced to turn out endless anti-communist propaganda.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e LAPD detective Morris Baker—a Holocaust survivor who drowns his fractured memories of the unspeakable in schnapps and work—is called to the scene of a horrific double-homicide. The victims are John Huston, a once-promising but now forgotten film director, and an up-and-coming young journalist named Walter Cronkite. Clutched in the hand of one of the dead men is a cryptic note containing the phrase “beat the devils” followed by a single name: Baker. Did the two men die in an attack fueled by better-dead-than-red sentiment, as the Hueys are quick to conclude, or were they murdered in a cover-up designed to protect—or even set in motion—a secret plot connected to Baker's past?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In a country where terror grows stronger by the day, and paranoia rises unchecked, Baker is determined to find justice for two men who raised their voices in a time when free speech comes at the ultimate cost. In the course of his investigation, Baker stumbles into a conspiracy that reaches deep into the halls of power and uncovers a secret that could destroy the City of Angels—and the American ideal itself.","brand":"Grand Central Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42869419409488,"sku":"9781538719459B","price":7.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781538719459-l.jpg?v=1785902734","url":"https:\/\/bookoutlet.com\/products\/beat-the-devils-9781538719459b","provider":"Book Outlet","version":"1.0","type":"link"}