Never become the story. This is the cardinal rule for political campaign staffers, at least according to Charles O’Connell, the protagonist in Richard Z. Santos’ debut novel, Trust Me.
We learn right away that Charles has broken his own decree: the supposedly shoe-in senatorial candidate he was working for has just landed in prison and Charles, who was himself investigated, has accepted a Hail Mary position in New Mexico working public relations for a new airport under construction on indigenous land. It’s a corporate gig—which to Charles feels like selling out—but he’s desperate. At rock bottom, Charles has lost his professional reputation, is drowning in debt, and is struggling in his marriage. Yet, if he succeeds in this new role, perhaps he can mount a comeback and thrive again in politics. Maybe he can even find the next great candidate out West. His wife, back at home in D.C, is rightfully suspicious of this strange, seemingly out-of-nowhere opportunity. She gives him two weeks to assess its viability, a clock that ticks throughout this literary thriller.
Almost immediately, the airport project becomes a fiasco when a construction worker digs up a skeleton on-site. The brokered deal, dependent on taxpayer support and public approval, is suddenly shaky. A local Native American tribe believes the body belongs to Geronimo, the Apache leader from the 1800s. Two different nearby tribes—both who’ve been exploited for hundreds of years by those in power—claim rights to the land. Meanwhile, Charles learns that the ultra-rich, politically connected developer behind the project has ulterior motives, as does his wife, a woman Charles discovers he knows intimately from his past.
