From the Choate Alumni Bulletin, Spring 2026:
The People Game
(Reviewed by Nicole Brothers)
Declan Shaw has navigated many difficult places in the world and has seen enough sorrow for someone much older than his 30-odd years. As an Irish reporter for the U.K.-based The Manchester Guardian, he has lived through his fair share of battles. In Tunisia, he covered the North African campaign during World War II and later spent time in Palestine amid the tensions that led to the birth of the State of Israel. He has seen war, conflict, the death of his brother and mother, and had his own close brushes with mortality, one in the harsh deserts of Jordan and one of his own making. He has faced the crushing weight of his own personal losses. Shaw’s next assignment may be far from the battlefields and soldiers, but our seasoned reporter has learned that you don’t have to be on the front lines to be in the thick of conflict.
As the Bureau Chief of his newspaper’s Washington, D.C. office, he will come to learn that while the battles may be more subtle, they are no less dangerous. From the beginnings of the Cold War and the Korean War to the rise of McCarthyism, Shaw must decode this emerging world power for his paper’s European readership. But to an outsider like Declan, the United States is a cryptic place, with the Civil Rights Movement and the 1952 presidential campaign as confusing in the concentrated space of Washington, DC, as in the rest of the country. Luckily, our man Declan is a natural at playing what he calls “the people game.” With the ease of one born to it, he can gain intimate access to some of the most influential players in D.C., including presidents, generals, civil rights activists, and a variety of other Washingtonians including popular young congressman named Kennedy.
Kirkpatrick weaves his protagonist’s story through history with the ease of one who has already survived the experience. The character’s journey is an expedition through parts of history often overlooked or overshadowed by greater news stories and events. Still, Kirkpatrick makes these moments seem all the more critical to our fundamental understanding of the world because they happened to our friend Declan. He feels as real as if the author had known him all his life and had only transcribed his story told over a few pints of Guinness. His mentors and friends are truth-tellers we can rely on. His hardships and uncertainty are ours to struggle with. His homecoming and belonging are ours to rejoice in.
In this final book of Kirkpatrick’s Declan Shaw trilogy, readers can be satisfied that, like Homer’s Odysseus, his trials and hardships serve a greater purpose. As Homer declared, “Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers all that he wrought and endured.” I am confident that readers of Kirkpatrick’s trilogy and The People Game can agree, finding in the conclusion not only narrative satisfaction, but intellectual provocation and an emotional resonance that lingers well beyond the final page.
THE PEOPLE GAME
Author: Jamie Kirkpatrick / Publisher: Köehler Books Publishing