“Testimony” (Strong Arm Press) is a thriller that takes place in the world of utility regulation. Set in 2002 with the War on Terror infusing the culture at large, it’s an assured, often funny, addictive read. Authors Peter Lazare and Sarah Lazare share writing credit; Peter completed the first draft, and daughter Sarah, a reporter and editor at “In These Times,” revised, edited, and expanded the story after his death. The teamwork pays off; it’s very entertaining and also surprisingly instructive.
The story opens with Sam stepping back from the endless loop of socialist organizing, where one protest has begun to bleed into the next with no time to recuperate. He’s broke, exhausted, and his idealism is beginning to calcify. Waiting tables and pumping out job applications, when one finally comes through, he leaves Chicago for Springfield, Illinois, and a job as a gas utility regulator. It should be a low stakes way to earn a paycheck, but a gas pipe explodes in a school, killing an employee and setting a series of events in motion that soon have Sam running for his life.
Peter Lazare was an analyst at the Illinois Commerce Commission for two decades, and he designed a believable, highly frustrating culture for Sam to navigate. Every declaration that the regulators are working for the consumer is followed with an enormous stage wink, and the school explosion turns into a financial free-for-all under the guise of homeland security; why repair the failing gas infrastructure when you can grift to your heart’s delight? Sam begins to connect these dots, jeopardizing first his employment, then his safety.
One critic likened the story to feeling like “a socialist John Grisham” thriller and that’s fair, though this engaged me far more than Grisham’s work ever has. It reminded me more of an episode of “Parks and Recreation,” but with filmmaker John Sayles as director. There are recurring gently funny scenes, like Sam’s inability to catch his supervisor in the office, but they glint like fishing lures, reminding the reader there’s a barb beneath the surface. The grungy diners Sam frequents to avoid certain coworkers have handmade signs posted inside and out that comment obliquely about what’s going on, a nod to a habit Peter Lazare himself practiced.
The Lazares did a terrific job layering small moments that indicate something’s amiss, then letting them tumble forward with great timing. Sam’s boss sends him to a community forum where everyone in attendance is shocked that he’s there. Someone mentions a scholarship, but the thought is lost as he gets a call; he was sent to the meeting as a form of hazing, and is pulled out before it ends. That thread is left to dangle, but begins to take on meaning when we see giant checks being handed out while cameras are rolling. The corporate money laundering is shocking to unpack, but by this point in the story, far from surprising. Self-dealing under the guise of patriotism is a scam that remains evergreen.
Sam is kind of a mess. His life is so reduced that when his car dies, he can easily move via taxi; when he sees a sign outside the coffee shop advertising a bike for sale, he jumps on it, pedaling around town to get his bearings. Most of his allies are also not at their best. But they manage to pull together and combine their skills with tenacity to try and see justice done. There’s a moment made for film when they team up to take on the system, but it’s done in a humble manner. Reading it, one thinks, I could do that! And you’re right, you could. It’s a lesson in power used well, and used for good.
Even the cover design, by Jim Cooke, works to serve the story. At first glance I thought it was black bars of redacted testimony, organized on top and then falling into a jumbled heap at the bottom. But a closer look reveals them to be pipes, one of which is pumping out smoke. “Testimony” was a pleasant surprise, a book that’s relevant, scrappy, and full of examples a reader can take and apply in the real world. It’s also a good reminder that intrigue is not always a matter of cloaks and daggers; power moves wherever people are, whether it’s a community forum in a dilapidated gym or on the water-wasting golf courses favored by CEOs.
Heather Seggel is a writer living in Northern California.
From The Progressive Populist, October 1, 2021
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