Author and screenwriter Lou Aguilar brings us his latest book “Paper Tigers.” It is a very timely fictional novel that takes us behind the scenes into the newsrooms of the mainstream media, the halls of academia, the cesspool of progressivism in Hollywood, and the corrupt swampland of Washington, D.C. Though the book is about politics — particularly government, the media, and the entertainment industry — it strays away from political correctness and focuses on character development and crafting a story.
Cowboy Conservative Nick Jarrett arrives at The Washington Post at the same time as Ivy League feminist Laura London. As interns, they are assigned to the same mailroom and almost immediately clash over politics. The two seem to disagree on everything. The role of government, feminism, masculinity, education, marriage, and everything in between. However, sparks fly between the two. Despite their political divide, they manage to find themselves in love. As they try to navigate their unusual relationship, the two of them get involved in covering a campus protest that threatens to turn violent, a massive Hollywood blacklist scandal, and corruption in the highest points on Capitol Hill.
“Paper Tigers” hits all of the high points for today’s political climate. Though it is a fictional story, several of the incidents the protagonists find themselves in are ripped straight from the headlines. This gives the novel a timely feel as the characters navigate moment to moment as journalists. Even though it is fiction, as a reader, you get the impression that the circumstances you are reading about seem oddly familiar. From the halls of the Ivy League to the streets of our nation’s capital, you will recognize these events.
The main protagonists’ banter back and forth about traditional values and liberal values are probably conversations you have heard over Thanksgiving dinner or visiting with your family on the weekends. Each makes the points succinctly, though a few times the conversation did feel a bit cliche in the general sense of what they were saying when it came to the point of view of their political aisle.
One of my favorite sequences in the novel was Nick’s investigation into a new Hollywood blacklist. After tracking down a mystery writer who lost out on a big film contract, he discovers a cabal of progressive watchdogs. This time, a ban is not in place over the evils of communism, but over support for American values. Anyone who holds true to tradition is immediately labeled and banned. As a screenwriter, Aguilar has a particular expertise with this part of the conversation and he wastes no time showing how leftism has infiltrated the entertainment industry with its propaganda.
The plot explores the political themes of this modern era, but is also written in a classic novelist style. The characters have depth, the story moves at a perfect pace, and it does not bog itself down in minutiae or melodrama that makes so many modern novels bland and droll. “Paper Tigers” gives the reader glimpses into the worlds of the media, government, academia, and Hollywood that gets political without the political correctness.