Deadline Man

A Novel

Jon Talton

Who knew the worlds of Seattle newspaper journalism and high finance could be so thrilling — and so deadly?

Our narrator is a man we know only as ‘the Columnist,’ writing about economics and business for the fictional Seattle Free Press. His old man died in federal prison; his sister committed suicide six years ago. Our (anti)hero has a background that includes both military service and a Pulitzer Prize. He’s a master of compartmentalization, as evidenced by his current juggling of three girlfriends. He’s egotistical, ambitious, and emotionally unavailable.

He’s also very good at his job, respected by other journalists and the corporate mucky-mucks he interviews. What he writes can make or break a corporation, so he’s understandably disdainful of bloggers (‘amateur journalists’) and mourning the slow death of real journalism.

On the day his story begins, the Columnist is in the middle of what should be an uneventful interview with a hedge fund manager. He’s there to ask standard background questions about a dull company called Olympic International. But then the conversation takes a strange turn. The financier cryptically mentions something called eleven-eleven. Our man knows nothing about it, but the vibe is so odd, it niggles at him. Later, when he’s physically accosted by a young woman on the street, she shouts, ‘Eleven-eleven, a-hole’ and warns him, ‘You’ll get yours.’

Now the niggle about eleven-eleven grows to a roiling in his gut.

Soon, there’s a spate of mysterious deaths, the Columnist is interrogated by a mysterious federal agency, and that boring company — Olympic International — turns out to be not so boring.

All of that is somehow linked to the still-nebulous phrase eleven-eleven.

The Columnist teams up with a young female reporter to solve the riddle of eleven-eleven and maybe save the newspaper with one big, splashy story.

Like the Columnist, the author Jon Talton is a veteran journalist. He’s written about finance for more than 25 years and is currently a business and economics columnist for The Seattle Times. He gives us an insider’s view of the day-to-day at a major newspaper, including some poetic bits about watching the giant printing presses pump out the paper in the dead of night. If you have nostalgia for the pre-internet days of journalism, this will hit you hard.

There’s also a very strong sense of the city as the Columnist’s investigation takes him to all corners of the Seattle area, including vivid descriptions of different neighborhoods, the people, the nearby mountains, and the floating bridge over Lake Washington.

This story weaves together spy skills, car chases, thugs in fine suits, shoot-outs, adult sexy times, and neat bits about the craft of writing to deliver plenty of entertainment hung on an intelligent scaffolding.

How many times have I been here, in all weather, all hours, and stages of life, often sporting a glow of liquor from the nearby Puget Embassy. We all called it the Putrid Embassy, or just the Putrid. It was the last newspaper bar in Seattle. The place was long and narrow, smoky and dear. The booths were ancient and the walls were decorated with notable Free Press front pages. It was run by an old Greek, who would run us out at two a.m. exclaiming in his wonderful accent, ‘got to go, got to go!’ When I qualified to run a bar tab, I knew I had become a real newspaperman. The bar had closed four years ago, replaced by a Starbucks. But the presses still thunder. — Jon Talton

Strong Sense of Place is a listener-supported podcast. If you like the work we do, you can help make it happen by joining our Patreon! That'll unlock bonus content for you, too — including Mel's secret book reviews and Dave's behind-the-scenes notes for the latest Two Truths and a Lie.

no spoilers. ever.

We'll share enough detail to help you decide if a book is for you, but we'll never ruin plot twists or give away the ending.