A strange single-seater plane crashes in the centre of Washington DC and a scandal is brewing in the White House: two big stories that set the reporters of the capitals premier paper jockeying for scoops. As the newsroom buzzes with rivalries, rumours, and gossip, across town a spymaster queasily watches a video of yet another beheading from Falluja and tries not to panic as two of his best agents slip from contact. Meanwhile, a nuclear scientist fakes his own death and waits to see exactly who is going to come looking for him. Moving slickly between the corridors of political power and the frontlines of international espionage, The Room and the Chair is a brilliantly plotted, dazzlingly written, and completely compelling novel about those who chase the news, those who spin it, and those who make it.